


close to you

by youwereamazing



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Based on Good Morning Call, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Homophobia, Living Together, Mutual Pining, Out of Character, Swearing, i changed the ages/ age differences a bit so it would fit the story better, the rival plot is just something I added in myself, there are some unrequited crushes going on, title is from sleep-walking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-07-07 20:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 62,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youwereamazing/pseuds/youwereamazing
Summary: Kim Yoohyeon has two goals for this school year: to get the solo at the school concert and to enjoy her life alone in her new apartment. Both of these goals are crossed by Lee Siyeon, Yoohyeon's biggest rival since middle school, when unfortunate circumstances lead to them having to share more than just their passion for singing...(based on Good Morning Call)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching GMC bc I literally have no taste and no life and then I thought it'd be a good idea to write a fic with DC based on it so here we are. I don't usually write romance but I'm trying my best. 
> 
> I really appreciate feedback of all sorts, so feel free to leave a comment or come talk to me about anything on my twitter (orbitmyheart)

„WOW! Lee Siyeon, just wow. You have the voice of an angel. So beautiful! So much talent! You hit those high notes perfectly. And your vocal range is really impressive.” Their music teacher clapped after every other word, looking completely smitten by the girl standing in front of him. “I’ve never had such a good singer in one of my classes before. You are truly exceptional. Of course I will recommend you for the solo auditions. If it was up to me, you would get the solo without even auditioning.”  
There was nothing more than the faint ghost of a smile on Lee Siyeon’s lips as she gave the teacher a short nod and thanked him. That was her usual reaction to compliments. A nod and those two words, nothing more. The hint of a smile was actually already something special, probably only showing because she was getting what she wanted yet again.  
“I wanna wipe that smug look off her face, “ Yoohyeon whispered to her best friend Gahyeon. “She’s truly exceptionally conceited.”  
“Conceited? I think she is pretty humble, “ Gahyeon said. “And you have to admit, her singing is so good. I could listen to her all day.”  
“On what planet do you live that you think Lee Siyeon is humble?”  
“Just look how shy she gets when someone compliments her.” Gahyeon sighed. “She is so talented and still so down to earth.”  
Yoohyeon rolled her eyes. Gahyeon had some sort of crush on Lee Siyeon. It didn’t matter to her at all that Lee Siyeon had been her best friend’s rival for years. She only cared about Siyeon’s voice and her looks. Whenever she did anything that hinted at her having a bad personality, she found a way to turn it into something positive. In Gahyeon’s head, Lee Siyeon was some sort of flawless goddess that couldn’t do any wrong.  
“Kim Yoohyeon, you’re next, “ the teacher announced.  
“You can do it, “ Gahyeon tried to encourage her. “Just believe in yourself.”  
Yoohyeon took a deep breath and went to the piano in the back of the room, trying to stay calm. Her biggest goal this school year was to get the solo at the school concert. The official auditions for that would be held in two weeks, but because many people wanted that position, there was a pre-audition held in every music class. You could only enter the official auditions if your music teacher recommended you. And a music teacher was only allowed to recommend three people per class. Gahyeon and Lee Siyeon already had his confirmation that he would recommend them, so there was one spot left. If Yoohyeon couldn’t impress him now, it was over for her.  
“1, 2, 3…” the teacher counted down before he started playing an old song he had chosen for the pre-auditions.   
Yoohyeon just had to be at least as good as Lee Siyeon. She had to be recommended for the auditions. There was no way she was losing again. Last year, Lee Siyeon had made it to the auditions, but Yoohyeon hadn’t. Siyeon actually would have gotten the solo, but she missed rehearsal twice and was replaced. Everyone knew that it was basically sure that she would get the solo again this year. But nothing was set yet and Yoohyeon was determined to win that solo.  
But when she started singing, her voice was shaking. She could hear her own fear of failure in her ears. She missed a few notes and then a few more. That was it for her dream. It was over now. She wouldn’t even get into the choir this year. Her whole singing career was over. Every day, she would have to endure seeing Lee Siyeon being celebrated as the voice of the school and being laughed at by Lee Siyeon and being looked down on by Lee Siyeon because she fucked up the pre-auditions so horribly that she didn’t even get a place in the choir.  
Yoohyeon looked around to room to find something to calm her down. Gahyeon was showing her a heart and a thumb-up from the other side of the room, an encouraging smile on her face. She tried to concentrate on her best friend and her constant support, but it didn’t work.  
Then her eyes fell on Lee Siyeon in the first row, carefully watching her with that arrogant look on her face. She was probably happy to see Yoohyeon failing horribly. She could basically feel her satisfaction over the fact that her enemy hadn’t even made it to the auditions again. Did Lee Siyeon even see her as an enemy anymore? She was probably not close to being good enough for that.  
No. Yoohyeon couldn’t let her win like that. No way in hell. She couldn’t give up without a fight. If she got a hold of herself now, there was still a chance. She was only on the first verse. Enough time left to turn her performance around.   
She closed her eyes for the chorus and focused on her voice. She tried to stop worrying about what she sounded like and just sing like she did when she was alone at home. A thing she would be often from now on and was looking forward to a lot. Just thinking of that cheered her up and brought a smile to her lips. She imagined herself dancing around in her beautiful new apartment. That got her through the rest of the song.  
When the piano music ended, Yoohyeon was smiling brightly, opening her eyes again. Gahyeon was clapping for her, but everyone else just seemed as bored as before.  
“The beginning was… weak. But it got better. Good job, Yoohyeon, “ the teacher said with a nod. “I can send one more student to the auditions.” He looked down on the list in front of him. “And I guess that’s gonna be you.”  
It took all of Yoohyeon’s energy to not completely freak out. She tried to imitate Lee Siyeon’s cool way of taking compliments, but she probably looked like an idiot when she nodded and said “Thank you”. And then she said “Thank you” again, which probably made it even worse. “I mean… thank you so much for giving me a chance, “ she added, like the idiot she was.  
She could see Lee Siyeon shaking her head out of the corner of eyes, but Yoohyeon didn’t even really care about that right now. She’d be able to go to the auditions. That’s all that counted.

“How did the auditions go?” Lee Yoobin asked Yoohyeon during lunch break. They were sitting on a bench right outside of school, sharing the food Yoohyeon’s mother had made for her.  
Yoohyeon smiled at her friend brightly. “Guess.”  
“You got in!” Yoobin returned her smile. “I’m so happy for you. You’re gonna get the solo, I feel it.”  
Yoohyeon wasn’t sure about that, but she hoped more than ever that Yoobin was right. “Did you audition?” she asked.  
Yoobin nodded. “I have a chance of getting into the choir. My teacher said that she wished they would allow rap during the school concert just so that I could show off my talents.”  
Yoohyeon laughed. “They should really do it! I don’t get why they don’t. It would just make the program more diverse and interesting and they’d be able to show off more talented students. Like you.”  
“True. But of course they are doing the same old boring concept as last year and the year before and the year before that. Slow ballads only, a focus on vocals, but also slow and sad songs on the piano and classical orchestral pieces. Nothing wrong with any of those, but they should change it up a bit.”  
“I know. I’d die for something more rock-y or upbeat. Singing ballads is fun and all, but they always want us to keep a straight face and look like bored zombies. It’s so tiring to do that for a whole evening.” Yoohyeon mimicked the face the teachers expected from them. She could pull the empty look off for one or two songs, but she loved nothing more than smiling, so it felt wrong to force down any expression for a whole concert.  
“If you get the solo, remember not to get into it too much. I heard once the soloist started crying on stage because he was getting so emotional. He never got to sing again after that.”  
“I think it’s beautiful if the music touches someone enough to make them cry. The teachers are just a bunch of idiots, “ Yoohyeon sighed. “They should let the students do their thing.”  
“Definitely.” Yoobin took out her phone and frowned. “You have to tell your parents goodbye from me. I have dance practice tonight and tomorrow. I can’t see them off.” Yoobin’s and Yoohyeon’s families had been close since forever. Yoobin was basically like a sister to Yoohyeon.  
“I will. They’ll be sad not to see you, though.”  
“I’m also sad, but I can’t skip practice. Sorry that I won’t be helping you move.”  
“It’s okay, “ Yoohyeon said. “Gahyeon’s helping. But you definitely have to come by as soon as you have time!”  
“Maybe I can help you unpack in the evening”, she suggested.  
“That would be nice. Just text me before you’re coming.”  
They smiled at each other for a moment, then Yoobin started to tell Yoohyeon about the book she was reading at the moment. She was only half listening, because Lee Siyeon had just left the school building. A girl was waiting for her, waving excitedly in Siyeon’s direction. She looked vaguely familiar to Yoohyeon, but she was too far away for her to recognize her.  
Lee Siyeon didn’t wave back, of course not, she just slowly walked towards her. The girl hugged Lee Siyeon and then kissed her cheek. They walked away together.  
“I didn’t know Siyeon had a girlfriend, “ Yoobin said. “I didn’t even know she liked girls.”  
“Girlfriend?” Yoohyeon repeated. “They just hugged.”  
“Looked girlfriend-like to me.”  
“You think?” Yoohyeon tried to get one more look at the both of them, but they were already around the corner. “I don’t think Siyeon likes girls. They are probably just friends.”  
“Maybe. But it would explain why Siyeon turns down every single boy that ever made a move on her.”  
“She also turned down all the girls.” Gahyeon was always talking about every single person that ever tried to talk to Lee Siyeon, so Yoohyeon was sure about that.    
“Because she already is in a relationship, “ Yoobin said.  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t get why she is so popular anyway.”  
“Same.”

After Gahyeon sat down the last moving box, she took Yoohyeon’s hand and danced around the room with her. “You’re living alone! Actually living alone! I’ll always hang out here from now on.”  
“I’m living alone!” Yoohyeon was laughing as Gahyeon made a turn with her.  
“And this apartment is great?” she stopped their dance to take another look around. “It’s big, there’s a lot of light, the bathroom’s nice, everything’s clean… also those stairs here are pretty fancy.”  
“Plus, there is a big fridge.” Yoohyeon nodded to the kitchen.  
“Important.” Gahyeon sat down on the stairs. “I’m actually jealous. It’s so cheap. Once my parents let me, I’m moving in here with you. You have an empty room anyway.”  
“Please do that. Just imagine us living together!” It would be amazing. Yoohyeon actually was a bit worried about living all alone. She would have to cook for herself and she got scared easily at night. If Gahyeon would be moving in with her, she would feel 100% more secure and comfortable.  
“It would be a mess, but wonderful.” Gahyeon smiled. “I have to go now, will you be fine unpacking the rest by yourself?”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I’ll just unpack what I need and do the rest tomorrow.”  
“We both know that if you don’t do it now, you will still live out of boxes in a year.”  
“True.” Yoohyeon laughed. “I’ll do as much as I can, I promise. Yoobin might come over later, so I can get her to help me.”  
“We should hang out with her more often. She is incredibly cool with her rapping and dancing and all, but you’re keeping her all to yourself.”  
“Now that I have my own apartment, you two can come over anytime.”  
Gahyeon stood up. “Trust me, I will do that so often that you’ll regret saying that.”  
Yoohyeon accompanied Gahyeon to the door and gave her a hug. When she closed the door after her best friend, the apartment immediately felt way too big and way too lonely for her. She wouldn’t be able to handle living on her own. She would starve or die of thirst or freeze to death because she was too dumb to do basic tasks. Or someone would break in and steal all her stuff. Or she would slip and fall down the three steps in the living room and break her neck and her body wouldn’t be found for a month.  
To distract herself, she went into her room to unpack a few things, starting with her computer. After that was set up, she felt a bit more comfortable. She put on some music to fill the silence and sang along while arranging her clothes in her new closet.  
She didn’t notice that someone had entered her apartment until the door to her room was opened. Lee Siyeon was standing in the door frame, frowning when she saw Yoohyeon on the floor unpacking a box.  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Lee Siyeon asked.  
Yoohyeon stood up to turn off the music. “I could ask you the same thing. How did you get into my apartment?”  
“Your apartment?” There was genuine shock on her face. “This is my apartment. I’m moving in here today.”  
“Can’t be. I’m moving in today.” Yoohyeon pointed at her stuff lying around everywhere.  
“You must be on the wrong floor or in the wrong apartment or something like that.” Lee Siyeon was taking out a piece of paper and looked at it. “Because I know for sure that I am right. This is my apartment.”  
Yoohyeon took the paper out of her hands. It was Lee Siyeon’s contract. And it looked exactly like Yoohyeon’s. She walked past Siyeon to the kitchen to get her own contract from a shelf and compared them. They really did rent the same apartment. They both were paying the same amount of rent starting from this month.  
“This is probably just a mistake, “ Yoohyeon said. “They got mixed up with the contracts or something and one of us is actually supposed to have another apartment.”  
Siyeon tore the contracts out of her hands, studying them carefully. “We got tricked. I’ve heard of these kinds of scams before.”  
“Tricked? So… what do we do?” Yoohyeon thought about how careful her parents and she had been when they were looking for a place for her to live. The man they had made this contract with had seemed really nice. Did he actually trick them?  
“We go talk to the landlord.” Siyeon already was halfway out of the door before Yoohyeon even had the chance to get her jacket.  
They walked to the office of the landlord in silence. How bad Yoohyeon’s luck had to be that she wasn’t only the victim of a scam, but victim of a scam together with Lee Siyeon. At least Lee Siyeon also got fooled.  
Yoohyeon was curios why Lee Siyeon was living on her own. She had always assumed that she came from a relatively rich family, why was she moving out now? Yoohyeon couldn’t think of any reasonable theory.  
When they reached the office listed as the address of the landlord, they found an abandoned building.  
“Fucking hell, “ Siyeon cursed. “What now?”  
“We could talk to someone else in the real estate business? Maybe they know what we should do, “ Yoohyeon suggested.  
Siyeon immediately took her phone out and started typing. “Follow me.”  
The two girls walked to the nearest real estate agency. It was already late Saturday afternoon, but they were lucky. An older woman was still working and kind enough to take a look at their situation.  
“Well. You’re the victims of a scam, “ she confirmed. “These contracts are basically a waste of paper. This apartment is currently on sale, but definitely not that cheap. If one of you wants to continue living there, I can help you get a real, valid contract.”  
“I want to live there, “ Yoohyeon immediately said.  
“I want to live there, “ Siyeon repeated her words. “But how much more money per month are we talking about?”  
“Almost twice as much as this.” The real estate agent nodded at their contracts.  
“Twice as much?” Yoohyeon repeated. Where was she supposed to get that money from?  
“Almost.”  
Siyeon looked at Yoohyeon, then the real estate agent. “Do we have to decide right now?”  
“I’ll give you both till Monday to think about it. I know the landlady is desperate to find decent tenants, so she will be pleased to hear that I found such lovely girls that are interested. You can come again Monday afternoon.”  
Siyeon nodded. “We will do that. Thank you.”  
Yoohyeon smiled at the woman. “Thank you for your help.”  
As soon as they left the building, Siyeon turned to her. “I don’t have that kind of money.”  
“Me neither.” Yoohyeon was already thinking about where she would be able to stay till she found a cheaper apartment. Gahyeon’s? Yoobin’s? But if she stayed at Yoobin’s, her parents would find out and she’d have to leave the city, the one thing she wanted to avoid at all costs. Her parents couldn’t find out about this. She had to solve this situation alone somehow.  
“Why do you have to live on your own? Can’t you just live with your parents?” Siyeon asked.  
“My parents moved to the countryside. I’m staying here to graduate, “ Yoohyeon explained. “I have nowhere else to go except some tiny village or that apartment.”  
“But don’t you have friends that could take you in for the next days, just till the agent finds a new apartment for you?”  
“Don’t you?”  
“I need that apartment. I’ll figure out a way to pay the rent… “ Siyeon sounded really desperate. “Just go find another place for the next few nights.”  
“No. I am sleeping in my bed in that apartment.”  
“Then I’ll guess we’ll have to share the apartment until Monday.”  
What? Sharing an apartment with Lee Siyeon? Never.  
“Or do you have any other options?” Siyeon asked.  
The only other option would be going to the countryside. If her parents found out about this scam, that was it. She’d rather survive the two nights in the same apartment as Lee Siyeon. After all, she was just a girl her age that she knew from school, so it was maybe annoying, but at least it was safe.  
It was only for two nights and one day. She could do that.  
“I guess we don’t really have a choice.”


	2. Chapter 2

When they returned to the apartment, Yoohyeon had three new texts by Yoobin. She was asking when she could come over and if she should bring dinner.   
There was no way that Yoobin could come over with Lee Siyeon here. Yoobin would freak out about the scam and tell her parents. So Yoohyeon wrote a quick text telling her that she was going to bed early because she wasn’t feeling too well.   
“Don’t you have any stuff?” she asked Lee Siyeon. The only boxes standing around where Yoohyeon’s.  
“My stuff will be brought on Monday, “ Siyeon explained. “I guess I’m sleeping in that room?” She pointed at the door next to hers.    
“You’re sleeping on the floor?”   
“It’s none of your business.” Siyeon disappeared into the room.   
Yoohyeon also went into her room. It would be easy to avoid each other like that. She would go meet up with Gahyeon tomorrow during the day and stay in her room the rest of the time. Lee Siyeon was probably going to do something similar. Those next two nights wouldn’t be a problem.   
But Monday would be. Because Yoohyeon couldn’t ask her parents for more rent money. There was no way she would be able to stay in this apartment. And that meant that she needed to find a new one in her price range in two days. She would also have to be able to move in right away. How high were the chances of her finding an apartment like that? Also, she would have to pay the moving costs with her own money.   
Yoohyeon tried to come up with a solution the whole evening. She tried to find an apartment online, but without any luck. Then she tried to find a job, but not many people were looking for a high school student without any work experience. And even if she got a job, it was very unlikely that she would earn enough money to pay the rent.   
There was one other possibility. Probably the only possibility she had to stay in that apartment. The more Yoohyeon thought about it, the more she realized that it was the easiest way to solve all of her problems. Maybe it was even the only way. Her life at home would turn into hell and she would constantly have be careful in a place that she was supposed to be comfortable in, but at least she would be able to stay in the city with her friends.   
The next day, Yoohyeon knocked on Siyeon’s door, just to find that the room was empty, so she spent the day playing computer games to distract herself from the probably difficult discussion that was going to follow eventually. When she heard the apartment door open, she didn’t even bother turning her computer off, she just jumped up and ran out of her room. “We have to talk.”  
Lee Siyeon gave her a weird look. “What’s going on?”  
“Let’s share this apartment. If we split the rent, we both have to pay a little less than before. There are two rooms and there’s definitely enough space for two people. I don’t know about you, but I have no other choice. Just as a temporary solution till we find other places to live.” Yoohyeon was talking way too fast and she stumbled over some words. If Siyeon wouldn’t agree to this, she had no idea what she was supposed to do.   
“I agree. Let’s do this.”  
That had been way easier than she had expected. “Really?”  
“Yeah. But there have to be some rules.” Siyeon went into her room and came back with her school bag. She took out a piece of paper and a pen and started writing. “You are not allowed to enter the other person’s room. You are not allowed to eat the other person’s food. Common areas have to be kept clean. We will have to figure out who gets to use the bathroom at which time in the morning and evening. We’ll divide chores like cleaning equally between us. And lastly, this stays a secret.”  
“A secret?” Yoohyeon repeated. “I accept the other rules, but why would we keep it a secret?”  
“Nobody can know that I live here. We should add no personal questions to the rules.”   
“We are absolutely not adding no personal questions to the rules. We are living together from now on. I think some personal questions are just appropriate. I mean, you don’t have to answer them if you don’t want to.”  
“True. But we are adding that we must keep it a secret. You can’t tell anyone that I live here, you can’t invite people over and you can’t talk to me in school. Understood?”  
Yoohyeon wasn’t happy to hear that, especially the fact that she wasn’t allowed to invite people over. “Can we make an exception for my best friend? I trust her with my life, she would keep quiet about this. And she would only come over when you are out.”  
“Are we talking about Lee Gahyeon? Absolutely not.” Siyeon finished writing down the rules and held them up one more time. “Did I forget anything important?”  
“Why not? You can also tell your best friend about it. And no, you didn’t.” Yoohyeon took the rules out of her hands and went over to the fridge to hang them up there.   
“Every person that knows just adds to the risk. I’ll have to worry enough about you staying quiet.”  
Yoohyeon felt a bit offended that Siyeon thought she couldn’t keep a secret. It was hard for her to keep such a big part of her life from Gahyeon, but she had always been good at keeping secrets. She hid the fact that she liked girls for sixteen years, after all. “It’s set then. We’ll just have to sign the new contract with the landlady tomorrow.”  
“We should meet up after school and go there straight away, “ Siyeon decided. “Let’s meet behind the school so nobody sees us together.”

“Are you feeling better?” Gahyeon asked her the next morning. “Did you eat well?”  
“A little. And I ordered stuff.” She had lied to Gahyeon and Yoobin about feeling sick all weekend to prevent them from coming over, but the ordering food part was true. Siyeon and Yoohyeon had actually agreed to order together the evening before because it would have been stupid to order separately. They had both eaten their food alone in their own rooms though.   
“You can’t order stuff every day. You should learn how to cook. It’s cheaper and healthier.”  
Yoohyeon knew that. She had already looked for some easy recipes online that she wanted to try in the next few days. That plus a sufficient amount of instant noodles should keep her from starving to death.   
“Have you decided on a song for the audition? We have to give them to the teacher this Friday, right?”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I’m thinking of doing an English song.”  
“Is that a good idea?”   
“I don’t know, maybe I’ll find another song. I haven’t decided anything yet. What about you?”   
Gahyeon smiled. “I wanna do ‘I’ by Taeyeon.”  
“Good choice.” Gahyeon had a beautiful voice that fit the song well. Yoohyeon wasn’t really sure if she wanted herself or Gahyeon to get the solo more. Both would be good. Just as long as it wasn’t Lee Siyeon.   
“Should I come over later? Then I can help you look for a song for the auditions, “ Gahyeon suggested.   
“Sorry, I have to go shopping and catch up with school stuff.” Yoohyeon knew that was a lame excuse. First of all, she had never cared too much about school before. Secondly, exams were months away and there wasn’t really much to do for school right now.   
Gahyeon frowned a bit, but she didn’t say anything about it.   
“By the way, do you know anything about Lee Siyeon having a girlfriend?” Yoohyeon asked.   
Her best friend dropped her school bag and grabbed her arm. “What? Lee Siyeon has a girlfriend?”  
“I just saw her being picked up by a pretty girl.”  
“Did they kiss? Hold hands?”  
“They hugged and the girl kissed Siyeon on the cheek.”  
Gahyeon exhaled deeply. “Doesn’t mean that they’re a couple. I do that with all my friends. But I’m gonna keep my ears open to the gossip.” She picked up her bag again. “I’m gonna go to class now, see you later!”

“We are really doing this, “ Yoohyeon said after they left the real estate agency. “We are officially living together.”  
“It’s not that big of a deal.”  Siyeon seemed kind of annoyed. “It’s just temporary and because there was no other way.”  
“I’d never thought I would end up sharing an apartment with you.” She couldn’t really believe that this had happened. It felt surreal to even walk on the street with her.   
“I’m gonna go grocery shopping, so I’ll see you at the apartment, “ Siyeon announced.   
“Oh. I’m coming with you, I need some stuff as well.”   
“Go alone. I’m seeing you too much as it is, I don’t need to go grocery shopping with you too.”  
“Rude.” Yoohyeon shrugged. “See you at the apartment.”  
She walked a bit faster, expecting Siyeon to go in a different direction, but the other girl followed her. “What are you doing?”  
“I’m going to the grocery store. It’s quite obvious, isn’t it?” Siyeon passed Yoohyeon and started walking in front of her.   
That annoyed the hell out of her for some reason, so she made some big steps to pass Siyeon again. Siyeon suddenly took a turn into another street, but Yoohyeon was glad about it. Just that a block later, the other girl came out of an alley and was walking in front of her again.   
Yoohyeon almost had to run to be able to pass Siyeon again. Their childish competition went on till they reached the store, both basically running now to be the first one there. When Yoohyeon went through the door, she couldn’t hear Siyeon anymore. She must have fallen behind. The victory over Siyeon felt good. It’s been a while since Yoohyeon had been better than her in anything and she had definitely missed that feeling.   
She went to get the things she needed for the dishes she had picked out online and an amount of noodles and rice that should get her through the next week. Then she got a few drinks and went to get into the queue at the register.   
The person in front of her was buying an unholy amount of unhealthy instant food and an even unholier amount of onions, for whatever reason. When Yoohyeon took a look at the customer, she realized that it was Siyeon.   
“Why are you buying so many onions?” she asked her. Yoohyeon wasn’t the biggest fan of them and she couldn’t think of a reason why someone would buy onions, but no other ingredients for a meal. Onions were supposed to be a side dish at most, in Yoohyeon’s opinion.   
“No personal questions, “ Siyeon said.   
“We’re living in the same apartment, don’t you think I deserve to know why you are buying a thousand onions?”  
Siyeon just shook her head. “I have my reasons.”  
“Do you want to keep vampires away?” Yoohyeon asked. “I’m not a vampire, by the way, just if you’re worried about that.”  
She couldn’t really tell because Siyeon’s back was turned to her, but she could’ve sworn she heard her laugh a bit. “I just like onions. Anything wrong with that?”  
“To each their own, “ Yoohyeon said with a shrug.   
They didn’t even try not walking home together. They just walked next to each other in silence. “So you are just gonna eat those onions? Pure and raw? Without anything else?” Yoohyeon asked when she felt that the silence got too uncomfortable.   
“Do you really think I would just eat raw onions?” Even Siyeon looked a bit disgusted by that thought.   
“I don’t know. You just bought ten dozens of onions without anything else, it’s not that far-fetched.”  
Siyeon didn’t answer that. They reached their building and got into the elevator. When they got out on their floor, Yoohyeon saw someone sitting in front of their apartment.   
“Fuck, “ she said.   
Siyeon looked up and followed her gaze. Yoobin was sitting on the floor in front of their apartment door, staring mindlessly at her phone. When she heard Yoohyeon’s voice, she looked up. A smile spread on her face, but it immediately disappeared again when she saw who was standing next to Yoohyeon.   
“Lee Siyeon?” Yoobin asked. “I didn’t know you two were close.”  
“We’re not, “ Yoohyeon immediately said. She tried to think of a believable lie, but Siyeon was faster.   
“We have to work on a music assignment together.”  
Yoobin was still frowning a bit, but she stood up and gave Yoohyeon a hug. “I just wanted to drop by and give you this soup my mom made for you. She was a bit worried when I mentioned that you weren’t feeling well.” She gave her a bag.   
Yoohyeon smiled at her. “Tell her thank you. I appreciate it a lot.”   
“Yeah, right…” Yoobin uncomfortably glanced at Siyeon. “If you have school stuff to do, I’m gonna go now. I have practice soon anyway…”  
“Thanks for coming by. See you at school tomorrow.” Yoohyeon hugged her friend again.   
“Bye, “ Siyeon waved and walked past Yoobin to the apartment door. For a moment, Yoohyeon thought she would be dumb enough to take out her key and open it now, but she just waited in front of it.   
“Is everything all right?” Yoobin whispered to Yoohyeon.   
She nodded. “I’m fine. Really.”  
When Siyeon and Yoohyeon finally were inside of the apartment, Siyeon put down her bags, sat down and smashed her head on the kitchen table. “That was close.”  
“Yeah.” Yoohyeon went to the kitchen and sorted her groceries into the fridge and the cupboards. “But she bought the lie, so it’s fine.”  
“You have to tell your friends not to come by.” Siyeon looked up again. “Make it clear that they are not wanted here.”  
“They’re my friends. I can’t just tell them that I don’t want them in my apartment.”  
“Of course you can. Just say you have neighbors that complain about noises easily or something like that.”  
“That’s not a good lie, “ Yoohyeon commented. Her friends would never let anything like that stop them.   
“Then come up with something better.” Siyeon stood up, just leaving her bags on the table, and disappeared into her room.


	3. Chapter 3

Living together with Lee Siyeon wasn’t nearly as bad as Yoohyeon had thought it would be. The only times they saw each other was in the morning when they both got ready for school and in the evening around dinner time. Yoohyeon found out that Siyeon was working in a café, so she was rarely at home anyway. If she was at home, she mostly spent the time in her room and only came out to eat dinner or go to the bathroom. That way, Yoohyeon could use the living room as she wanted.   
On Thursday evening, she was doing her homework on the kitchen table, when she heard music coming out of Siyeon’s room. She was singing along to the lyrics, but she never finished a song, she always just listened to the first verse and the chorus and then put on the next one. Was she picking out a song for the audition? The evening before she had to tell the teacher which song she wanted to perform?  
Siyeon went through one slow ballad after another. She tried the solo that was sung at the school concert last year, but she didn’t seem to be happy with that. The music stopped for a while and Yoohyeon almost thought she either gave up or made a decision, when suddenly a rock song started playing.   
Rock? That was unusual and definitely unexpected. Most people went for slow and emotional songs for the audition, because that was what would be chosen as solo and it made sense to show that you could pull off such a song. Yoohyeon thought that choosing ‘Valerie’ by Amy Winehouse had been a bold and brave choice that would make her stand out, but a rock song was on a whole other level. Lee Siyeon was really something.   
When they told their music teacher their choices the next day, he seemed a bit surprised by the song Siyeon picked, but he just went with it with a smile. “I’m looking forward to all of your performances. Do your best! Prepare well!”  
Gahyeon didn’t stop talking about Siyeon for the rest of the lesson. “Can you believe that she did that? She is so cool. If I would sing a song like that, it would lower my chances to win to zero. But she can pull it off. She is so cool.”  
“You could also pull it off. It won’t sound like a heavy rock song anymore anyway.” They weren’t allowed to use anything beside their voice during the audition and with just the vocals, it was questionable whether it would really sound that different to the other songs.   
“True. But still… she’s fucking cool, admit it.” Gahyeon admiringly stared at the girl in the front row. Living together hadn’t changed Yoohyeon’s view on Siyeon much. She was still that arrogant girl that always got the soli and was incredibly popular for some reason, even though she was always quiet and not a very social person. She’d been exactly like that since middle school. None of these things made her “fucking cool”.  
“By the way, I looked into that girlfriend thing…” the younger girl told her. “Apparently, that wasn’t the first time that Siyeon was picked up by that girl. I’m not sure, but I heard a rumor that it’s Kim Bora.”   
Thinking back, the girl that had picked Siyeon up did look pretty similar to Kim Bora.   
Kim Bora was a legend at their school. She had graduated last year and she was known as the queen of dance. She was so talented that the principal had decided to let her perform at the school concert, but he wanted to see her performance before letting her on stage. So he unexpectedly dropped by one of her rehearsals and he must have seen something that he didn’t like at all. Nobody knew what actually went down during that rehearsal, but the rumors were wild. He immediately took Kim Bora out of the program. People started making up the craziest theories and it was still one of the biggest mysteries of the school. Yoohyeon herself was convinced that the principal just thought that her, probably far from being inappropriate dance, was too sexy for the school concert.   
“Now that you say it… it’s possible that it was her who picked up Siyeon. I was too far away to be sure… but it’s possible.”    
“If they really are dating… then they are a power couple., “ Gahyeon said.   
Yoohyeon couldn’t really disagree with that.

Siyeon was working basically the whole Saturday, so Yoohyeon used her time alone at home to practice for the audition. She was confident in her English pronunciation by now,  but she was still working on making the song sound good and complete even though she had no instrumental backup. Her practice was interrupted by the ringing door bell, which caused her a heart attack because she thought it was Yoobin or Gahyeon. But it turned out that it was just the postman delivering a package for Siyeon.   
She went to a restaurant to have lunch with Gahyeon. Her best friend kept on asking when she could come over again and Yoohyeon was slowly running out of excuses. She decided to try Siyeon’s idea with the neighbors, but Gahyeon didn’t really buy that. “It’s Saturday afternoon, they have absolutely no right to complain about noises!” she said. “I won’t let them stop me from visiting my best friend in her apartment.”  
Yoohyeon had a hard time convincing her not to come over after they finished their lunch. She made up some lies about a big project for one of her classes and how she had to clean the apartment and practice for the audition and how behind she was on homework… Maybe she exaggerated a bit. It wouldn’t be long till Gahyeon would get suspicious and confront Yoohyeon. She knew her way too well for that.   
In the evening, Yoohyeon tried to make the most of her time at home and practice a bit more. She was just listening to a recording she made of herself when Siyeon came home. Even though Yoohyeon tried to turn it off as fast as she could, Siyeon seemed to have heard it.   
“The audition?” she asked while taking off her shoes. She came over to the couch and sat down next to Yoohyeon. “Can I listen to it?”  
Yoohyeon had not expected anything like that at all, but Siyeon probably wanted to check out the competition. She turned away from Siyeon a bit and put her phone in her pocket. “I’m still working on it.”  
“That’s exactly why I wanna listen to it. I can give you some tips, you know.”   
Yoohyeon couldn’t really tell whether she was looking down on her or if she genuinely wanted to help her, but knowing Siyeon, it was probably the first.   
Siyeon stood up again. “Have you eaten dinner?”  
“I ate some noodles earlier.”   
The other girl shrugged and went to kitchen, taking out two onions.   
“At least I can be sure you are not a vampire, “ Yoohyeon said and also stood up. She went up the stairs to her room to finish listening to the recording and take some notes on what she could try to improve.   
“If you change your mind about the recording, you know where to find me.” Siyeon didn’t turn around when saying that.   
Yoohyeon hesitated before going into her room and closing the door. Why was Siyeon so keen on listening to her recording? Did that mean that she saw Yoohyeon as an actual threat for the audition?   
She just wanted to put her headphones on when she heard the doorbell ring. For a moment, she thought it might be Yoobin, but then she remembered that she was performing tonight. Gahyeon had gotten the message that Yoohyeon didn’t want to be visited today, right?   
She assumed that Siyeon would get the door, but nothing happened. The bell rang again, so Yoohyeon left her room to see what was going on. “Aren’t you getting that?” she asked Siyeon, who was standing in the kitchen cutting onions.   
“No. It’s probably one of your friends and it’s best if we just act like nobody’s home.”  
Yoohyeon didn’t really think that was fair to her friends. If it really was Gahyeon, she would find a way to get her to leave again. Or maybe she secretly wanted her to find out so that she could finally stop lying to her.   
But when Yoohyeon opened the door, it wasn’t Gahyeon standing in front of her. It was Kim Bora, up close even more gorgeous than expected.   
“Hello. Are you one of Siyeon’s friends?” she asked with a bright smile.   
Yoohyeon was too taken aback to respond to her.    
“What the hell are you doing here?” Siyeon had come out of the kitchen, the knife still in her hand, tears in her eyes. “How did you find out where I live?”  
“You used Minji’s account to order those boots, “ Bora explained. “I wanted to see how you live now. I didn’t think you’d have friends over, I’m sorry.”  
Siyeon closed her eyes and sighed. “Leave.”  
Yoohyeon was incredibly confused. Who was Minji? Why did Siyeon order boots from her account? Why was she telling Bora to leave?   
It didn’t seem like they were a couple. Or maybe they were just having a fight right now.   
“We’re worried about you, “ Bora said. “You should call Minji. She’s upset that you’re ignoring her.”  
They stared at each other for a moment. Yoohyeon felt slightly uncomfortable standing in the middle, so she turned to Siyeon. “I can go leave for a moment if you want to talk in private… I don’t mind.”  
Bora put a hand on her shoulder. She was significantly smaller than Yoohyeon, but she was pretty intimidating for some reason. “It’s okay. I’m sorry that I burst in like that. I’ll leave now.”  
“I’ll call Minji, I promise.” Siyeon smiled a little, but it was a sad smile.   
Bora returned it with a real, bright one. “Thank you. And call me when you are ready to talk about what happened.”  
Siyeon nodded and then went back to her onions.   
“Sorry, “ Bora said again. “When she moved out, it came out of the blue for us and she didn’t return any of our texts or calls… I was a bit worried. But I’m glad to see that she doesn’t sit in her room all alone 24/7.”  
“I think you don’t have to worry about her. She’s doing fine living alone, “ Yoohyeon told her. “I’m more worried about her love for onions.”  
Bora laughed. “Minji once told her to pack lunch for a trip. Siyeon packed a raw onion and just ate it like an apple.”  
Yoohyeon also had to laugh now. The picture of Siyeon eating a raw onion in her head like it was the most delicious thing in the world was deeply disturbing.    
The older girl was already turning around to leave when she looked at Yoohyeon one last time. “What’s your name?”  
“Kim Yoohyeon.”  
For a moment, Yoohyeon could have sworn Bora recognized that name. A glimpse of surprise hushed over her face before she broke out in a wide grin. “It was nice to meet you, Yoohyeon.”  
“Nice to meet you too, Bora.” She waved at her one last time before closing the door.   
Siyeon had finished cutting her onions in the kitchen and was heating up noodles now. Yoohyeon debated for a moment whether she should ask her about it, but she didn’t even have to.   
“Minji is my big sister, “ she explained. “And Bora’s her girlfriend. I lived with them before I moved here.”  
Yoohyeon hadn’t even known that Siyeon had a big sister. Why did she live with her big sister and her girlfriend instead of their parents? And what happened to make her move out and try to break contact with them completely? Was it okay for Yoohyeon to ask that? “What happened?”  
“We had some problems. So I secretly got a job, saved up and moved out. That’s why I have no place to go. I can’t return to them.” Siyeon shrugged.   
Yoohyeon still had no idea what could have possibly happened, but Siyeon clearly didn’t want to talk about it more, so she changed the topic. “If we’re gonna keep living together, we have to do something about your dinner choices.”  
“Hey! Don’t attack my dinner. It’s easy, it doesn’t take a lot of time and it tastes good.”  
“It’s a bunch of onions with noodles. I’ll show you what a real dinner is tomorrow, “ Yoohyeon said. Even if she was a bad cook, she could do better than this. And no matter in what it was, proving that she was better than Siyeon in something was a chance she couldn’t miss.  
“Free dinner? I’m in.” Siyeon smiled at her.   
Yoohyeon couldn’t help but smile back.


	4. Chapter 4

“You actually made dinner for me?” Siyeon asked when she saw the pots on the kitchen table.   
“I stand by my word. Mostly.” Yoohyeon got up from the couch and sat down at the table. “I made something with onions.”  
“What is it with you and onions?” Siyeon rolled her eyes and joined her. “You’re acting as if it’s that unusual that I like onions. There are a lot of popular dishes with onions.”  
“What is it with me and onions? I am not the one who eats raw onions without anything else.”  
“It was one time.” Siyeon seemed genuinely annoyed, so Yoohyeon decided to drop the onions forever.   
The rest of the dinner went by mostly in silence. Siyeon complimented the food and agreed that it was better than instant noodles with onions. Yoohyeon asked her about the audition, but she didn’t seem to be interested in talking about that. This dinner had been an awful idea. Why did she even suggest it? Just to prove that she was a better cook than Siyeon? Why was she so obsessed with proving that she was better than her anyway? Their rivalry was focused on the singing and it didn’t really matter that Yoohyeon was better at other things. The only thing that mattered was the solo.   
“Do you remember in middle school when the teacher made us sing that duet together?” Siyeon asked out of nowhere.   
Yoohyeon remembered that very well. It had pissed her off like nothing else. It had been their first year in the choir together and the first time Yoohyeon really noticed Siyeon. Even though she had a really nice voice, she had tried to avoid the spotlight until the moment the teacher brought up the solo at the Christmas concert. Yoohyeon had known right from the start that she wanted, needed, to sing that solo. In middle school, most students weren’t that keen on singing alone in front of the entire school, so Yoohyeon had been incredibly confident that she would get it without a problem. Just that Siyeon also wanted it. That was the moment both of them became rivals. In the end, the teacher forced them to sing a duet together instead because they were fighting over that solo so much.   
Now thinking back, singing a duet probably hadn’t been the worst idea. Their voices did work well together, but young Yoohyeon had been afraid that Siyeon would outshine her. “I still know every word of the song,”  Yoohyeon said.   
“Same. It’s a good song. But the dance the teacher came up with? Probably the worst choreo I have ever seen.” Siyeon laughed loudly, then she started to sing and dance the song.   
It didn’t take Yoohyeon too long to get over her surprise that Siyeon just did that and to join in. The choreo was almost completely made up of hand and arm movements, the primary elements being literally every way to form a heart with the human body, but one of Yoohyeon’s favorite parts was a move that was supposed the resemble a Christmas tree. Thinking back, that performance had probably been very weird for the audience. A beautiful song sung by two talented girls but then they were just… dancing like that.   
“Bora would die if she saw this, “ Siyeon said while she was still laughing.   
Yoohyeon stopped dancing. “I don’t think anyone can survive the power of this dance. It’s just too good.”  
“True.”  
The person sitting in front of her felt like a  completely different person to the one who’d been her rival for several years. Maybe that stupid choreo that was at the beginning of their rivalry could also be at the end of it. After they both had stopped dancing and singing, there was an awkward silence hanging between them.   
“I’ll do the dishes, “ Siyeon offered. “You cooked, so that’s just fair.” She stood up and started to clean up.   
Yoohyeon thought about fighting it, but she decided to just let her do it. “Thank you.”  
She spent the rest of the evening in her room thinking about the dinner. It was the first time she had ever seen Siyeon laughing and enjoying herself like that. She had looked relaxed and at peace. And for some reason, it made Yoohyeon feel good that Siyeon seemed to be comfortable around her. It made it feel like living together didn’t have to be something bad and annoying. It made it feel like this place could become a home for both of them eventually.

“Why don’t you want me to come over?” Gahyeon asked. “If you don’t want me there, just tell me, but stop lying to me.”  
Yoohyeon had been waiting for this to happen. She was actually surprised that Gahyeon had taken so long to confront her. She had given her bad excuses why she couldn’t come over for one and a half week.   
What was she supposed to tell her now? She couldn’t bear telling her friend that she didn’t want her in her apartment. But making up other lies hadn’t worked until now and she wouldn’t be able to come up with something believable in such a short time anyway.   
The longer Yoohyeon was hesitating, the sadder the look on Gahyeon’s face got. “You actually don’t want me there. I don’t get it. What happened? When you moved in, you told me I could come over anytime.”  
Yoohyeon tried to tell her the truth without actually saying it. “Something happened… but I can’t tell you about it because it’s another person’s secret and they begged me to stay quiet about it.”  
Gahyeon looked confused. “Are you lying to me? Why wouldn’t I be able to come over to your apartment because of another person’s secret?”  
“I’ll tell you someday, okay? It has nothing to do with me not wanting you in my apartment or me not trusting you.” Yoohyeon wasn’t sure whether she was actually making things better or even worse.   
Gahyeon sighed. “I don’t like this, but do I have a choice? I trust you and that you keep quiet about stuff like that is one of the reasons I do.”  
A big wave of relief hit Yoohyeon. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.” Gahyeon hugged her. She still seemed to be a bit disappointed, but she changed the topic after she let Yoohyeon go again.  “Are you ready for the audition tomorrow?”  
“I think I am, “ Yoohyeon said. She had used the times Siyeon was out to practice and on her recordings, she sounded quite good. “What about you?”  
“My parents say that it’s perfect. But I’m already nervous and I’ll probably screw up because of that.”  
“It’s gonna be fine. Just imagine I’m the only one listening to you, “ Yoohyeon tried to encourage her.   
Gahyeon shrugged a bit. “What really matters is that I’ll get to hear Siyeon singing again.”  
“She hasn’t even started practicing yet, but her performance will be flawless anyway “ Yoohyeon said. “Life’s so unfair.”   
She didn’t notice her mistake till she saw Gahyeon’s jaw drop. “How do you know that? Who told you that?”   
She couldn’t really tell her that she knew this because she never heard Siyeon sing once. It was maybe possible that Yoohyeon had been trying to listen to what was going on in Siyeon’s room whenever both of them were home at the same time in hopes of hearing her sing. But she never did.   
“I overheard her talking to someone, “ Yoohyeon lied.   
Gahyeon disappeared into her own world, processing that new piece of information on her crush. She didn’t seem bothered by the fact that they both had been working their asses of for that audition when Siyeon hadn’t even started practicing and her chances to get the solo were still a lot higher than theirs. Gahyeon’s expression changed suddenly to something that looked vaguely like shock. “What if she doesn’t get the solo?”  
“What?” That was exactly what Yoohyeon was hoping for. “That’d be great.”  
“But I’d feel so bad for her.”  
“Why? She hasn’t even worked hard for it. Other people deserve it more than she does.”  
“I just… She probably thinks she’s gonna get it anyway because that’s what everyone tells her. I’d be embarrassed if I didn’t get it, “ Gahyeon explained. “She’ll feel like a disappointment when she actually isn’t one at all.”  
“If that’s her biggest problem…” Yoohyeon said. Of course Siyeon wouldn’t be happy about not getting the solo, but she couldn’t imagine that she needed the confirmation it brought along to feel confident in her own ability. After all, it was Lee Siyeon, the singing star of their school. She could handle not getting one solo.

In the afternoon, Yoohyeon went through her audition song one last time. She’d printed out the lyrics at school, not because she needed them, but because she wanted something to hold onto during her performance. And she wanted to be prepared in case she’d have a blackout on stage. She tried to relax for the rest of the day and not stress out over the audition too much. It’d be fine if she didn’t get the solo. She did her best.   
When Siyeon came back home, Yoohyeon waited for her to start practicing, but that didn’t happen. Instead, she was sitting in the living room, watching TV and making notes on a piece of paper, probably school stuff.   
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Yoohyeon asked while she prepared dinner for herself.  
“Yeah.” Siyeon seemed distracted by something. “What about you?”  
“I guess.”   
“You won’t make it far if you’re not confident, “ Siyeon told her.   
Yoohyeon was confident, mostly. If it wasn’t for all the times she had felt confident before an audition only for Siyeon to get the solo.   
“If you don’t get the solo, you can still sing in the choir.”   
Was that meant to be encouraging or was she looking down on her? Yoohyeon couldn’t really figure it out.   
When Yoohyeon went to bed, she thought about Siyeon not practicing at all. Did she even care about the audition? It didn’t look like it. The solo didn’t really seem important to her. When she had gotten it last year, she had just skipped rehearsal twice. Someone who truly cared about it would have showed up to rehearsal and practice before the audition, right?   
The more time she spent thinking about it, the surer she was that Siyeon didn’t care. But why would she even audition in that case? If she didn’t want the solo, why was she fighting for it? What other motivation could she have to participate in the auditions?  
Siyeon was just a big mystery to Yoohyeon.

Friday morning, Yoohyeon rushed to school. She was nervous and wanted to be at school as early as possible. She took her time getting ready so she would look good on stage, grabbed the lyric sheet from the pieces of paper lying around on their living room table and left. Her breakfast was some bread she ate on the way.   
In front of the school, she met Yoobin. “Why are you so early?” she asked.   
Yoohyeon shrugged. “I’m a bit nervous about the audition.”  
“It’s gonna be fine, “ Yoobin assured her. “If they don’t recognize your talent, I don’t know what’s wrong with them.”  
She gave her a weak smile. “Let’s see about that.”   
“I believe in you. I just wish I could come cheer you on.” Only the students who auditioned got the day off. Their school took this whole solo thing very seriously, but letting uninvolved students miss lessons because of it was going too far even for them. “I’ll send mental support.”  
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Yoohyeon took a deep breath. “I think I’m gonna go wait in the auditorium. See you later!”  
She was the first one inside of the auditorium besides the tech team that was setting everything up on stage. The music teachers plus the principal would be sitting at a desk in the front row and take notes about the performers. The students would be sitting in the audience behind them, waiting to be called up.   
Yoohyeon sat down in one of the rows in the middle, close to the end of the row, so she would be able to get out easily. Then she closed her eyes and tried to calm down. It was just one audition for nothing more than a school concert. It was okay to fail. It was going to be fine.   
She couldn’t convince herself of any of these things.   
Gahyeon arrived a bit later. She had a bright smile on her face and didn’t look nervous at all. “Good morning!” she greeted Yoohyeon and sat down next to her. “I am so excited. This is my favorite day of the whole school year.”  
“Can’t relate.” Yoohyeon felt like she was nothing more than a bundle of anxiety.   
“Hearing all these different talented singers… hearing Siyeon sing.. and you… It’s incredible. Getting to sing on stage yourself… the excitement of who will win… “Gahyeon said dreamily.   
“The fear of failing, “ Yoohyeon added.   
Gahyeon shrugged. “At least you’ll get to sing in the choir and be part of the concert.”  
How could her best friend be that optimistic about today? Yoohyeon wished she could have just a bit of her positive attitude. Instead she imagined what Siyeon would be like if she won the solo yet again. Would she be any different at home? Would she actually practice? Would she just skip rehearsal again?  
The principal got up on stage just in time. “Welcome! Today, we have gathered the 18 most talented singers of our school here to audition for the end of the year school concert. This year, we’d like to try changing things up at the school concert, but we’re gonna reveal how at the end of the audition. Now I’m very excited to hear all of you sing and I’m convinced that it’s gonna be though on the jury to pick. I wish we’d have time at the concert to let all of you sing a solo. Those of you who don’t get picked, you are guaranteed a place in the choir. The order in which you will come up here to try to convince us will be picked randomly. You are not allowed to spend more than five minutes on stage. I’m going to pick the first name right now.”  
They were going to change things up? With their school, it was quite possible that they only meant that the solo song this year would be a tad bit different than the one from last year. Maybe it would be in a major key, unlike all the songs of the years before.   
A freshman from the tech team went up to him with a bowl full of little pieces of paper. The principal picked one and read it out. It was a girl from the year above them Yoohyeon knew from the choir. She had a nice smooth voice, but her vocal range was quite limited.   
While the girl was singing, Yoohyeon looked around for Siyeon. She was sitting in the back, dressed completely in black, her arms crossed in front of her chest, critically watching the performance.   
Gahyeon was staring in the same direction. “She looks so cool.”   
She did. She looked like some sort of superstar who came to judge aspiring singers.   
“Next up is… LEE GAHYEON, “ the principal announced after the first song had ended.   
A glimpse of fear hushed over Gahyeon’s face as she stood up. “That’s me.” As if Yoohyeon didn’t know that.   
“You can do it!” she said. Gahyeon just nodded and started her way towards the stage.   
She sounded really good. In the beginning, she hadn’t quite figured out how close to the mic she had to be to be neither too loud nor too quiet, but after that, she got through the song almost perfectly. Her voice fit it really well. Yoohyeon felt proud of her best friend. She definitely deserved the solo.   
Gahyeon returned to her seat floating through the air. Her expression was somewhere between shock and happiness. “I did it, “ she said.   
“You killed it!” Yoohyeon could barely contain her excitement. “That was so good.”  
That didn’t really seem to get through to Gahyeon. She sat down and just stared to the stage for a bit. It took her several performances to calm down and concentrate on what was happening again.   
Compared to Gahyeon, everyone else who had performed yet had looked a bit weak. They were good, but Yoohyeon could easily point out a few problems for all of them. Over half of the students had already performed when Siyeon’s name was called out.   
She took her time standing up and walking slowly to the stage. Confidence was radiating from her and she seemed completely cool, like she did this every day. When she was standing in front of the mic, she took out a few folded pieces of paper. Her whole expression changed while she was doing that. Her confidence vanished to nothing and was replaced by total panic. For a moment, she looked completely lost. Her eyes wandered around the room, ending directly on Yoohyeon. “I have to run to the toilet really quick. Excuse me, “ she said into the mic. It was way too loud and way too fast. She basically ran off the stage.   
What was going on? Did she really have to go to the toilet or was something wrong with her lyrics? Yoohyeon and Gahyeon shared a confused look. The teachers watched Siyeon leaving completely perplexed and they seemed to have no idea how they were supposed to handle the situation.   
Siyeon stopped in front of Yoohyeon’s and Gahyeon’s row. “Yoohyeon, “ she whispered and nodded at the door. Then, she loudly announced: “I just need a tampon or something.”  
Yoohyeon still had no idea what the hell was going on, but she stood up and followed Siyeon out of the auditorium.   
As soon as they were standing in front of the door, Siyeon held the pieces of paper directly into Yoohyeon’s face. “Why do I have your lyrics?”  
Yoohyeon took them out of her hand. Those were indeed the lyrics to her song. Hadn’t she taken them with her that morning? “How did you get these?”  
“You took mine.” Siyeon expectantly held her hand out. “Give them to me.”  
She thought back to the morning. She hadn’t paid much attention when grabbing the papers, had she? Did she really manage to take the wrong ones? Yoohyeon got the sheets out of her backpack. They had notes all over them, so she should have noticed right away that those weren’t hers.  “I’m so sorry, “ she said when she handed them to Siyeon. “So sorry.”  
The other girl wasn’t even listening. She grabbed the lyrics and ran back into the auditorium. Yoohyeon followed her.   
When she sat down again, Gahyeon was staring at her full of shock. “Why did Siyeon ask you for a tampon?”  
“In middle school, I used to be the tampon provider for every girl in need, “ she explained. That wasn’t a total lie, she had been the one her close friends always came to when they needed something, but Siyeon didn’t know about that. “She probably remembered that.”  
On stage, Siyeon was apologizing and asking the teachers if she could still perform. Of course they said yes, they basically had no other choice. When she started singing, her confidence and calm slowly came back to her. She sang the song perfectly, even though she had to constantly look at the lyrics.   
Siyeon’s voice had this power that just filled the auditorium, but her whole stage presence was so capturing that it was just impossible to look away from her. It’s not that she was really doing something, just the expression on her face and the way she stood there were enough. Even though Yoohyeon wished she didn’t, she understood quite well why she always got the solos. Hearing her sing reminded her of the sirens from Greek mythology, it sounded like she could actually kill men with her voice, if she wanted to.   
After she finished the song, she smiled at the audience and waved a bit. “Thank you.” The small crowd erupted in cheers. It felt like the decision had already been made after this performance.   
Siyeon just walked off of the stage while everyone was still clapping. “So cool, “ Gahyeon whispered. “I love her.”  
“That was …” Yoohyeon looked for a word, but she couldn’t find one that was good enough for that performance. “So good.”  
“KIM YOOHYEON, “ the principal on the stage announced. Yoohyeon froze in her seat. That was her luck, having to perform right behind Siyeon. Even if this would be the best performance she had ever done, it would look like a joke compared to what the audience had just witnessed.   
“Go. You can do it, “ Gahyeon encouraged her and pulled at her arm.   
The way to the stage felt a lot shorter than it had looked like. Her heart was beating so loud in her ears she thought she would die. Siyeon was still standing beside the stage. When Yoohyeon walked past her, she stopped her.   
“Don’t panic. Just sing, “ she said and winked at her before she walked back to her seat, leaving a surprised Yoohyeon behind.   
She took a deep breath and took the stairs that led up to the stage. When she was standing in front of the mic, she took out her lyric sheets. Still trying to calm herself down, she closed her eyes and imagined being home alone. It didn’t work.   
“My name’s Valerie and I’m singing Kim Yoohyeon, “ she managed to get out. There was some laughter, but she didn’t even try to figure out why. She looked down onto her lyric sheet and wanted to start singing, when she saw a little note in the corner. It just said “Fighting!” and then had hearts drawn in several ways, in the exact order they appeared in the disaster choreo of Siyeon’s and Yoohyeon’s middle school duet, but it was enough to calm Yoohyeon down. It reminded Yoohyeon of the years of rivalry between them and that it was time to leave it behind. Singing shouldn’t just be about proving to be better than Siyeon. If Siyeon would get the solo, it was because she deserved it. If Yoohyeon won this solo now, it was not because she was better than Siyeon, but because she was good and did her best.   
She folded the lyrics and put them back into her back pocket. She wouldn’t need them. Yoohyeon just closed her eyes and started singing.


	5. Chapter 5

Yoohyeon couldn’t tell how her performance was, but she didn’t really care right at that moment. She was full of energy and she hadn’t been able to stop smiling since the first chorus. When she came back to her seat, she was way too excited to concentrate on the rest of the audition. She might not get the solo, but at least she had had fun on stage.   
When all 18 performances were finally over and they got through the half hour the jury took to discuss, the principal got on stage again. “That was incredible. Every single one of these performances was wonderful and we’d as a jury want to thank all of you for showing your talent to us. As I said at the beginning, this year, we are going to change things up at the school concert. Due to many students leaving, we don’t have a student band that could perform, so there is some time to be filled. We decided to fill this time with talented vocalists. Out of all 18 of you, we’re picking five for our vocal group instead of just one for one solo.”   
“What?” Gahyeon asked. “A vocal group?”  
“The jury decided on the five members based on your performances just now. Just to make this clear, no one of you will sing a whole solo song. We have a special guest soloist that will join the vocal group as well. But we are planning on a duet and a song for the whole group and maybe other subgroups, depending on how well your voices work together.”  
No solo? All of Yoohyeon’s excitement disappeared. They invited a special guest soloist and there was no student solo?  
“Now to the lucky ones that got into the vocal group.” He named two older girls Yoohyeon didn’t really know. They both sang well, but Yoohyeon hadn’t really thought they would have a chance to get the solo. But well, it wasn’t about a solo anymore anyway. “Lee Gahyeon! She convinced us with her beautiful cover of ‘I’, it was absolutely wonderful, thank you for that. Lee Siyeon. Our fourth member has a unique voice and hits every high note perfectly. Her performance today was outstanding. And last but not least… Kim Yoohyeon! With her energy, she made all of us smile a bit and her beautiful voice sounds like an angel’s! Welcome to the vocal group.” There was a quiet round of applause, mainly coming from the teachers. “That’s it for our vocal team, your teachers will inform you about what will happen now. Those of you who didn’t make it, the first choir meeting will be next Wednesday. Don’t be disappointed, being in the choir is quite honorable as well! Thank you all for coming today.”  
“We… are in the vocal group.” Gahyeon was frowning a bit, until a wide smile appeared on her face. “We are on the vocal group and Lee Siyeon is on the vocal group and we will sing together with her!”  
Yoohyeon knew that quite well. She wasn’t sure what to think about this whole thing. A part of her was disappointed, but… she made it, didn’t she? She got picked. That was something. Right?

On her way home, Siyeon ran up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You did really well.”  
“You too. I’m sorry about the lyrics…” Yoohyeon apologized again.   
Siyeon just waved it off. “It’s fine. I got into that vocal group anyway.” Her tone didn’t sound the least bit excited about that.    
“We’re going to sing together again, “ Yoohyeon said. “Just like in middle school.”  
“We and  three other people, “ Siyeon added, obvious annoyance lying in her expression now.   
“One of them is Gahyeon. She’s talented and pretty cool.”  
“That’s your friend, right? The one you wanted to tell about our living situation?”  
“Yeah. I’m lying to my best friend because of you, so feel honored.”  
“I appreciate it a lot, “ Siyeon said. “But I still don’t really wanna sing with her.”  
They walked a bit in silence, then Yoohyeon remembered something. “There are four other people.”  
“What?”  
“We’re going to sing with four other people. The principal said that the special guest soloist would also join the vocal group.”  
“They steal our solo spot and then want to sing with us?” Siyeon was frowning. “What’s with that special guest anyway? Who are they? A celebrity?”  
“I guess it’s probably an alumnus, “ Yoohyeon said.   
“Do we have any alumni that had successful singing careers after school?” Siyeon asked. “It better be someone good when they are throwing things around like that just for them.”  
“We’ll probably meet them soon. We’re gonna start practicing next week or the week after that.”  
They reached their building and got into the elevator.   
“I should ask Minji whether she knows someone.”  
“Did she go to our school as well?”  
Siyeon just nodded.   
When they got out of the elevator, two girls were sitting in front of their apartment. One of them was Kim Bora and she was holding the hand of the girl next to her, so that was probably Siyeon’s sister Minji. They both jumped up when they saw them.   
“What the hell are you doing here?” Siyeon asked.   
“I wanted to visit you, “ Minji said, a careful smile on her face.   
“I didn’t give you permission to. If I wanted you to visit, I would have told you my address myself.” Siyeon seemed pretty pissed.   
Her sister just ignored that. “How was the audition?” she wanted to know instead. “Did you get the solo?”  
“No.” She didn’t take the time to explain to them that there technically was no solo and that she did get something.   
“Who are you?” Minji turned around to Yoohyeon.   
“That’s Yoohyeon. She was also here the last time I came around, “ Bora immediately explained. “You know, Kim Yoohyeon.”  
“Oh! So… you two are close now?” Minji asked, looking between them.   
Siyeon did something completely unexpected. She grabbed Yoohyeon’s hand and nodded. “We are. We are dating.”  
Yoohyeon tried to hide her own surprise. Why was she telling her sister that lie? She decided to play along and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”  
“That’s so cute!” Bora clapped her hands.   
“I remember in middle school when Siyeon used to…” Minji started, but then stopped for some reason.   
“When Siyeon used to what?” Yoohyeon asked.   
“Sing that duet with you, “ Minji ended her sentence. “That was pretty adorable.” It was obvious that she wanted to say something else, but Yoohyeon had no clue what it could have been about. Maybe Siyeon used to talk about her badly in middle school? Yoohyeon used to rant about the other girl a lot.   
“Can you go now?” Siyeon pointed at the elevator.   
“Don’t you want to invite us in? I wanna see how you live.”  
“No.” Siyeon vehemently shook her head. “Go.”  
“What about lunch? Do you two wanna eat lunch with us?” Bora asked.   
“We already have plans.” Siyeon walked towards the apartment door, pulling Yoohyeon with her. “Bye.”  
She turned around to wave at them while Siyeon was opening the door.   
Minji looked disappointed, but Bora just smiled. “Maybe next time. Have fun!”

“Do you wanna tell me what happened between you and them?” Yoohyeon asked when they were both sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch.   
“No.” She shook her head. “But I want to talk about us dating.”   
“Yeah. That. Why did you lie to your sister like that?” It didn’t make sense to Yoohyeon at all.   
“Nobody can know that we live together. Isn’t that one of the rules? That includes my sister as well.”  
“What’s the reason that you don’t want people to know?” Yoohyeon asked. “I mean, I don’t want my parents to know because they would freak out about the scam. I would have to move back to the countryside. But what’s your reason?”  
“Well… when I set that rule, I thought it would make it harder for Minji and Bora to find out where I live. But I made that rule and I will stand by it.” Siyeon paused a bit. “Back to the dating thing.”  
That didn’t really explain why she lied to her sister, but it wasn’t Yoohyeon’s business anyway. “What about it?” she asked.   
“Let’s full on pretend to be dating, “ Siyeon suggested. “Not only in front of my sister.”  
“What?”   
“Think about it. If people see us going home together or coming to school together, they’re just gonna assume that you’re bringing me home or that you picked me up or something like that. It won’t look suspicious if we talk in school anymore. It’s the perfect disguise.” She looked at her expectantly. “So, are you in?”  
Yoohyeon thought about it for a moment. She was definitely right, it would make everything look less suspicious. Especially to Yoobin. Yoobin was probably Yoohyeon’s biggest problem, because if she found out about them living together, she could tell her parents. And Yoobin had almost caught them once already. “Let’s do it.”  
Siyeon smiled brightly and took out her phone. “Thank you.” Then she walked around the table, kneeled down next to Yoohyeon and took a selfie of them.   
“What are you doing?”  
“I’m gonna post this and mention something about us dating in the caption, “ she explained.   
Yoohyeon grabbed the phone and deleted the picture. “We can do better than that. Kiss me.” She pointed at her cheek.   
Siyeon hesitated a bit before she followed the instructions. Yoohyeon tried to smile as brightly as possible as she took the picture. It turned out looking a bit more couple-y than Siyeon’s poor attempt from before. “One more. Put your arm around me and laugh at me.”  
The other girl frowned. “Do I have to laugh?”  
“It’ll look cute, I promise.” Yoohyeon positioned the phone and put an arm around Siyeon, pulling her face really close to her own. Then she started laughing. After a moment of silence Siyeon joined in in the fake laughter. It sounded uncomfortable, but hopefully, it looked different. Siyeon being so close to her made Yoohyeon kind of nervous, so she hurried up to take the picture and get away to look at it.   
It actually looked better than Yoohyeon had imagined. Siyeon’s laugh looked beautiful and real in the picture, but she still managed to stare at Yoohyeon. It really looked cute. “Send that to me, I’m gonna post that, “ she told her and gave her back the phone.   
Siyeon was still awkwardly kneeling next to the chair. She coughed a bit when she was taking the phone and looked at the picture. “You’re right. That looks good.” She stood up and started clearing the table. “I’ll do this… you can go.”  
Yoohyeon thanked her and went into her room to work out the perfect caption for the picture. She ended up with ‘This girl brings me so much happiness and never fails to make me laugh. Looking forward to sing on stage with my baby’ with a few hearts behind it. After she had tagged Siyeon on the picture, she just hit ‘Post’ and threw her phone onto her bed. She’d really done it. She was officially fake-dating Lee Siyeon.   
She tried to distract herself with homework, but  it didn’t work. She looked at her phone every other minute to see if anyone had reacted to the picture yet. Soon after hers, Siyeon posted the picture of her kissing Yoohyeon on the cheek. She had captioned it ‘I’m so lucky that I get to call this beautiful and talented lady my girlfriend’. Siyeon also left a comment under Yoohyeon’s own post. ‘I’m so in love with your laugh, babe.’ Yoohyeon replied with a heart and then commented on Siyeon’s post with a ‘caption is obviously a quote by me about you’. Was that stupid? She didn’t know.   
It took an hour till Yoohyeon got the first messages about it. A few of her friends texted her congratulations and asked questions about how and when they got together. A few people from her school she had never talked to asked her what it was like to be Siyeon’s girlfriend. An account with zero followers and posts and a weird string of numbers as username lovingly wrote “I hate you!!!!!”.   
In the evening, Yoohyeon told Siyeon about the reactions. “That’s not okay, “ Siyeon commented the message of the anonymous account. “Did you report them?”  
“Yeah. Of course. Did you get any messages?” she asked.   
“Not really. A lot of people commented how cute we looked together. Minji wrote a text saying how happy she was for us. A creepy dude asked if we wanted to have a threesome with him. I reported and blocked him. Some guy from our school that has bothered me for months wrote ‘Lesbians are so hot! But I could turn you straight for sure.’ I blocked him as well. The world is full of disgusting men.”  
“True. I don’t get what’s wrong with people sometimes.”  
Siyeon nodded. “But I guess the posts did their job. By Monday, the whole school will know that we are a couple. What did your friends say?”  
That was the first time Yoohyeon noticed that she hadn’t really thought about Gahyeon or Yoobin the whole afternoon. They hadn’t texted or called or liked her post. Yoobin wasn’t on Instagram a lot, but Gahyeon usually looked at it every other hour, so she must have seen it. “Fuck, “ Yoohyeon said. “Gahyeon’s probably mad at me now.”  
“Why?” Siyeon asked. “Because you’re dating me or because you kept it a secret?”  
“Both. I didn’t even tell her myself… she saw it on Instagram.” She buried her face in her hands. “That’s the worst thing I possibly could have done.”  
Siyeon was quiet for a moment, then she turned to Yoohyeon. “Would it make it better if you told her the truth?”  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “I guess. She would understand that. But it’s against the rules.”  
“Tell her the truth. I don’t mind.”  
“Really?” That was shocking. Hadn’t she just said this afternoon that she would stand by that rule, even when it came to her own sister?   
“Really. But just Gahyeon. And she has to promise to stay quiet about it.” Siyeon stood up and went to her room, but she turned around before going in. “If she already knows, she can even come over sometime.”  
Yoohyeon hadn’t expected Siyeon to care about her friendship with Gahyeon, but she seemed to care enough to change the rules for it. Before she could change her mind, Yoohyeon tried calling Gahyeon and then wrote her a message. ‘That thing on Instagram is not what you think. I can tell you the whole truth about everything now. Wanna come over to my apartment?’  
Gahyeon answered immediately. ‘Just bc I’m curious.’

An hour later, Gahyeon and Yoohyeon were sitting on the couch. There was a moment of awkward silence. Gahyeon was the first one to break it. “Explain.”  
Yoohyeon did. She told her about her first day in the apartment and how Siyeon suddenly came in. She told her about how they found out that it was a scam and she repeated everything the real estate agent had told them. “I didn’t really have a choice. I couldn’t afford the apartment, but I had no other place to go and if my parents found out about this, I’d have to leave the city. Same with Siyeon. So we are sharing the apartment.”  
Gahyeon completely lost it. “You’re sharing this apartment with Lee Siyeon?” she yelled. “Where is she right now?”  
“In her room, “ Yoohyeon said and pointed at the door.   
Gahyeon still had a look of shock and total disbelief on her face when she ran up the stairs and opened the door to Siyeon’s room.   
Yoohyeon herself had never been in the room, but it looked nice and clean. Siyeon was lying on a big bed in the corner of the room, listening to music over headphones. Her back was facing Gahyeon, so she couldn’t see her. When Gahyeon started making weird inhuman noises, she basically jumped out of her bed and took her headphones out. “What the fuck?” she said. Then she saw Gahyeon standing in her door. “Stop that.”  
Gahyeon obeyed. “You really live here, “ she said. “I can’t believe you actually live here.”  
“Yeah, I really live here.” Siyeon walked past Gahyeon into the living room and gave Yoohyeon an annoyed look. “When I said she could come over sometime, I didn’t mean right now. I meant when I’m at work.”  
“You could have just said that.”  
“True.” Siyeon let herself fall down on the couch next to Yoohyeon and looked back at Gahyeon. “So, you know that you have to keep this a secret? Nobody can know we live together.”  
Her best friend was still staring at Siyeon’s room. “What?”  
“Gahyeon, “ Yoohyeon called her. “Get it together.”  
Siyeon just continued talking. “If you tell anyone about this, I’m gonna find you and hurt you, understood?”  
“Yeah.” Gahyeon turned around and nodded. “I’m gonna keep your secret, I promise. So… you’re not really dating, but you’re living together?”  
Siyeon explained how she got the idea of pretending to be a couple as a disguise. “You have to play along, okay?”  
Gahyeon nodded like crazy. “Yes! I will. Of course I will. This is so exciting.”  
“Not really, “ Yoohyeon sighed.   
Siyeon stood up again. “I’m gonna leave you two alone again. Don’t stay too long.” She returned to her room.   
Gahyeon started squealing as soon as she was gone. “You are living with Lee Siyeon! The goddess! With the voice of an angel! And you get to pretend to be her girlfriend. What I would do to take these kinds of pictures with her…”   
“Taking those pictures was just pure awkward, “ Yoohyeon told her.   
Her best friend didn’t care. “I’m gonna come over a lot now that I know about it. What is she like at home? You have to tell me every single little thing she has done in the past few weeks and everything she is going to do from now on.”  
Yoohyeon rolled her eyes. “I barely see her. We eat together sometimes, but that’s it. She’s at work most of the time.”  
“She works? Where? And you eat together? I’m gonna come over for dinner every day.”  
“Calm down. You’re not coming over for dinner every day. Or do you wanna make her completely uncomfortable I her own home?”  
Gahyeon just shrugged. “She’d get used to me like she obviously got used to you.”  
“Still a no.”   
The rest of the evening, Yoohyeon had to answer every single one of Gahyeon’s questions. It was exhausting, but she was glad that she finally knew the truth now. Keeping a secret from her had been the hardest part about all of this. Things would be a bit easier from now on, having Gahyeon on her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to leave comment and tell me what you think!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siyeon's POV!!! revealing some kinda pretty obvious stuff haha ALSO HANDONG APPEARS MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL!!!

Lee Siyeon’s middle school self would have died if she had known that she would end up walking into school holding Kim Yoohyeon’s hand. Actually, if Siyeon was completely honest with herself, even her high school self was dying a little because of it. She was holding the hand of the most beautiful girl she had ever met in her whole life after all.   
They had music together in the first period, so they could just go together. Yoohyeon dramatically held onto her hand until the last moment possible when the two of them had to separate to get to their seats. Siyeon blew her a kiss immediately after sitting down on the chair in the front. She worried a bit about acting too unnatural. Did real couples act like that? Minji and Bora did annoying stuff like that all the time, right?  
Siyeon was distracted throughout the whole lesson. She kept on thinking about Yoohyeon’s hand in her own, her long fingers intertwined with hers. And then other moments flashed before her eyes. Last Friday, when Yoohyeon’s hand had just been resting on Siyeon’s shoulder for the picture they took. Yoohyeon’s hands forming different hearts when they had done the choreo from their middle school duet. Yoohyeon’s hand moving around during the audition. Small things, such as Yoohyeon’s hands holding paper, like the contracts or the lyric sheets, and then giving them to Siyeon. And then Siyeon’s mind wandered off even more. She imagined Yoohyeon’s hands playing with her hair. Yoohyeon’s hands softly brushing over her face. Yoohyeon’s hands on her back, her hips, her thighs. Yoohyeon’s hand grabbing onto Siyeon’s clothes to pull her closer. Yoohyeon’s fingers touching her lips… It took her the whole lessons to get her thoughts under control again. What was she doing? Imagining things like that… with Kim Yoohyeon?   
After class, the music teacher called Gahyeon, Yoohyeon and Siyeon to the front to talk to them about the vocal group. “The first meeting will be tomorrow during the first period. You’ll meet the special guest star… please take good care of her, she is still learning Korean.”  
“We will, “ Yoohyeon assured him.   
Siyeon walked Yoohyeon to her next class. She decided not to hold her hand because that would be dangerous, so she put an arm around her shoulder, which turned out not to be any safer. Maybe it had been even more dangerous, because in the lesson after that, Siyeon kept on thinking about Yoohyeon’s shoulders. What the hell was wrong with her today? Was her middle school crush rising inside of her again or was this just plain attraction to Yoohyeon’s undeniable beauty?  
After school, Siyeon found that she had missed a text from Minji. She wanted to meet up for dinner, just the two of them. The distance Siyeon had created between herself and Minji was, in retrospect, the worst thing that could have possibly come out of this situation. They were each other’s family and they’d always been there for each other. Siyeon missed her so much and it was all her fault that it ended up like that. But she wasn’t ready to face Minji yet and openly talk to her about everything and she would need to if she wanted to get her sister back.   
So she used Yoohyeon as an excuse again.   
When she got home after work in the evening, she sat down on the couch next to Yoohyeon. She was reading a book, a concentrated look on her face. It was adorable. When she noticed Siyeon expectantly sitting next to her, she put the book down and turned her face towards her. “What?”  
Siyeon cleared her throat. “Wanna go grab dinner? We can make new posts for social media and maybe even stock up on a few selfies in advance so we can keep things believable for a while.” She tried to sound as casual as possible.   
“Do we really have to post something again? The last post is only three days old. We don’t have to be one of those annoying couples to be believable. If we post too much… that would be less believable.” Yoohyeon picked up the book again. “Let’s just eat instant ramen or something.”  
“Actually…” Siyeon tried to come up with something convincing, but then she just went with the truth. “I told Minji I had special plans with you tonight. My treat?”  
Yoohyeon immediately closed the book and jumped up with a bright smile on her face. “Let’s do it. I’m picking the restaurant.”  
It was good to know that she was so easily buyable with food, Siyeon had to remember that. She couldn’t afford to to treat her often, but she would from now on if she needed to.   
They slowly walked through the streets of the city. It didn’t seem like Yoohyeon really had a specific goal in mind, she hesitated in front of every turn before deciding which way to go. It took a whole hour and a lot of Siyeon’s nerves whenever they walked passed an expensive restaurant until Yoohyeon finally stopped. “Let’s eat here, “ she announced.   
Siyeon’s worries that the restaurant Yoohyeon would pick would be too expensive turned out to be completely unnecessary. They were standing right in front of a fucking McDonald’s. “Really?” Siyeon asked. “I say special plans and you bring us… here?” At least this wouldn’t hurt her moneywise at all.   
“Yeah.” Yoohyeon laughed a bit. “I’m craving a good burger and fries and chicken wings.”   
The time they spent waiting in line was filled with her talking about all the things she wanted to eat. The more she talked, the less convinced Siyeon was that she was saving money with this. In the end, Yoohyeon ‘only’ ordered about half of the things she had mentioned.   
“So why did you tell Minji that we have special plans tonight?” Yoohyeon asked when they had sat down at a table close to the window.   
“She asked me to have dinner with her and I didn’t want to, “ Siyeon explained. “So I used you as an excuse.”  
“Isn’t it going to look suspicious if you always coincidentally have plans with me when Minji wants to meet up?”   
Siyeon just shrugged. She was pretty sure it wouldn’t look suspicious. When Minji and Bora started dating, they basically went out for dinner together every day. They wouldn’t really think twice about the fact that Siyeon was spending a lot of time with Yoohyeon. And it was nothing knew that Siyeon was avoiding them anyway.   
“What’s going on between you and your sister?” Yoohyeon asked, again.   
“To be completely honest… she isn’t actually my sister, “ Siyeon gave her a tiny bit of truth. “We are just so close we started treating each other as if we are real sisters.”  
The two of them had met five years ago. Siyeon had only been twelve, living in an orphanage and hating everything. The orphanage, her life, the world, herself… everything. She used to cry herself to sleep every night, quietly, so the other girls wouldn’t hear. But Minji did. Minji, only three years older, had noticed the younger one’s pain and one night, she came to her bed and sang a lullaby for her. The next night, the older one announced that she wasn’t alone because they were a family now. They were sisters now. And they stuck by that. Minji started looking for a job when she got a bit older, she worked hard every day to be able to afford a small apartment for Siyeon and herself. As soon as Minji turned 18, she grabbed Siyeon and left the orphanage. Their life had been good until Bora had moved in.   
“You don’t seem so close right now. Why do you keep pushing her away whenever she’s approaching you?”  
Yoohyeon was asking all the wrong questions Siyeon had been asking herself over the past few weeks.   
“I’m not ready, “ she told her the thing she always told herself. “I’ll talk to her when I am ready and then we will be fine again.” Even she knew those were nothing more than empty words she said to make herself feel better.   
“Don’t wait too long, “ Yoohyeon warned her. “It might be too late otherwise.”  
Siyeon knew that very well.

“Are you really going to be one of those annoying couples that post cheesy pictures all the time?” Gahyeon asked the next morning. The three of them had met up in front of school so they could go to the vocal group meeting together. Siyeon had thought that that was a bit unnecessary, but Yoohyeon had insisted.   
Yoohyeon laughed a bit. “We have to make it look believable.”  
“You were at McDonald’s! That’s not even romantic. No need to post about it.”  
“McDonald’s dates just make it look more natural, “ Siyeon said. “It’s not the most romantic place to eat, but it’s cute.”  
“Going to McDonald’s is just more comfortable than going to one of those fancy restaurants. If I can’t go have a romantic date at McDonald’s with my girlfriend… then why am I even together with her?” Yoohyeon was smiling and Siyeon couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to take her out on a real McDonald’s date.   
Gahyeon just looked between them as if they’d gone crazy.   
When they arrived in the music room, a strange girl was already sitting on the piano, looking tense and nervous. She was beautiful with her long blonde hair and a soft smile on her lips. If Siyeon had to guess, she would say she was about two years older than them.   
Up to that point, Siyeon had kind of pushed the school concert to the back of her mind, but now her initial anger appeared again. This vocal group was pure bullshit. Bringing in a girl merely older than them as a special guest star was pure bullshit.   
The stranger stood up to greet the three of them. “Nice to meet you, I’m Handong. I’m here for the vocal group?”  
Yoohyeon ran over with a bright smile. “I’m Kim Yoohyeon, we’re here for the vocal group as well. I’m so excited!” Then she switched into what sounded like Chinese. Siyeon had no idea that she could speak another language and how she knew that it was Handong’s.   
Handong’s smile grew wider when she heard her own language. She seemed to relax a bit while she gave her answer, whatever it was that they were talking about.   
This thing was getting better and better. Gahyeon and Siyeon just stood next to the two of them having a conversation till the two other girls arrived. That’s when Yoohyeon and Handong seemed to remember that they weren’t the only ones here. They all introduced themselves to each other.   
“Your audition was so good!” one of older girls told Siyeon. “If there had been a solo, you would have deserved it.”  
“Thanks.” Siyeon felt a bit bad for not even remembering that girl’s performance, but then again, if it had been worth remembering, she would have.   
When the teacher arrived, they started the singing stuff right away. They did some voice practices to warm up and then he “evaluated” their skills, meaning he let them sing a few lines, carry a note or harmonize. He praised Siyeon throughout the whole lesson for everything she did, which annoyed the crap out of her. She knew that there were things she could improve, but he just didn’t point out anything. How was she supposed to get better without some constructive criticism?   
Handong had a nice and smooth voice. She sang with a lot of emotion, which Siyeon quite enjoyed listening to. Her biggest problems were the high notes and the pronunciation. Yoohyeon helped her a lot with the latter and Siyeon was debating if she could give her some tips for the other problem or if that would come off as condescending. In the end, she missed her chance to do so without it being awkward.   
“What did you think about Handong?” Gahyeon asked them after the meeting. “She is so pretty and nice…”  
Yoohyeon nodded in agreement. “She has the beauty of a goddess and a good voice. I really need to go look up a few of her performances.”  
“What performances?” Siyeon was confused. Did Handong mention that? Or did they talk about that in Chinese?  
“She told me that she’s a musical actress. That’s the real reason she is in Korea:”  
It made perfect sense that she was a musical actress. Her voice was quite fitting for that. Siyeon could imagine her standing on stage in costume singing a sad love song maybe a bit too well. “But I don’t get why the school invited a famous Chinese musical actress.”  
“I didn’t really understand everything she told me, but she mentioned the principal’s wife and that she is actually doing it because of her. I didn’t get what their connection is, though.”  
“Isn’t the principal’s wife some big horse in the musical industry? Maybe that’s how they found Handong, “ Gahyeon suggested.   
“Doesn’t matter. It’s kind of unfair and unnecessary that they got a stranger to sing the solo instead of a student. Isn’t the school concert supposed to show off the talents of our school’s students?” Siyeon had been upset about that since the audition.   
“You’re just pissed because you didn’t get the solo. It’s cool that they are trying to make it more diverse.” She sounded genuinely annoyed by Siyeon, which then led to Siyeon being annoyed by Yoohyeon’s reaction. What kind of image did she have of her? If any other student from their school who had done better than her in the auditions had gotten the solo, she would have been completely fine with it.   
“I’m not pissed. I just don’t get it.”   
“Of course you’re pissed. You didn’t get what you wanted and now you’re blaming Handong.”  
Did Yoohyeon really think she was that keen on a stupid school solo? Not getting the solo didn’t matter to her at all. What really pissed her off that she had been pushed into a group she didn’t want to be part of and now had to sacrifice her time for it. If it wasn’t for Yoohyeon, she wouldn’t have even considered staying in the group. “What is your problem?” she asked.   
“You and your attitude.”  
“I didn’t say one single negative word about Handong. I just stated that I think it’s unnecessary to get a stranger to sing the solo. It doesn’t make sense.”  
Yoohyeon shook her head at Siyeon, lips pressed tightly together. She seemed in the mood to fight, but she held herself back . “I’m gonna go to class, “ she announced and walked away.   
Gahyeon stayed back for a moment. “That… was interesting.”  
Siyeon nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you think in the comments!!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

Siyeon returned from school alone that day. Yoohyeon had told her that she was going to hang out with Gahyeon. It seemed like she was still mad at her, which Siyeon couldn’t understand. The only thing she said was that it was unnecessary to bring in a stranger for the solo. How did that conversation escalate so quickly?  
When Siyeon left the elevator in their building, Bora was sitting in front of the apartment. Again. She was about to say some rude things to her, but then she noticed that her shoulders were shaking and her hands were covering her face. Was she crying?   
“Bora?” she asked carefully, walking over to her. “Are you okay?”  
She put her hands down and revealed red and puffy eyes. “No. Your sister… something’s wrong.”  
“What?” Was Minji hurt or ill?   
“I think she wants to break up.”  
Siyeon was relieved that Minji was okay, but then a wave of annoyance rushed through her. “And you’re here because…?”  
“I need to talk to someone about this. You know Minji better than anyone.” Bora stood up. “Can I come in?”  
For a moment Siyeon thought about letting her into the apartment just to let her see that she and Yoohyeon were living together. To show her how in love they already were and how Siyeon was completely over her feelings for Bora. But then again, maybe Bora would look straight through the lie. Or she would tell Minji about it and then Minji would want Siyeon to move back in with them or something like that. And if she let her into the apartment, she would have to listen to her crying about Minji for hours and she wasn’t really up for that kind of pain.   
“I actually have plans, “ she said. It wasn’t completely wrong, she did have work in an hour, but there would be enough time to talk to Bora before that.   
“I know that you hate me, but please talk to me.”  
Wait. Bora still hadn’t gotten what was going on? Siyeon had just assumed that she knew by now, after the way she had acted. How was it possible that she still didn’t know? “I don’t hate you, “ she said.   
“Come on, just be honest with me. If you don’t hate me, why move out?”   
Siyeon couldn’t answer that. Bora expectantly stared at her, the frustration and sadness in her eyes growing with every passing moment.   
And right then, at the worst moment possible, Yoobin came around the corner. She stopped when she saw the two of them fighting. “What are you doing here?” she asked, looking between them. “Where is Yoohyeon?”  
Fuck. Siyeon tried to stay calm and think about a safe way to manage this conversation without Bora or Yoobin mentioning who they thought was living in that apartment. “She’s coming soon.” She turned to Bora. “Maybe you should go now.”  
Of course that didn’t work. Bora wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. “I am not going until you answer my question. Don’t you think I deserve to know?”  
Yoobin took a package of tissues out of her pocket and gave it to Bora. “Here.”  
She took it with a quiet “Thank you”, but she kept her eyes locked on Siyeon. “Talk to me, “ she said. The desperate look in her eyes was almost enough to make Siyeon give in.   
“It was not about you, “ she lied.   
“I’m not that stupid. You moved out as soon as I moved in. You avoided and ignored me completely the weeks before moving out. You didn’t tell us your address and you refuse to talk to me. If it’s not about me, then what is it about?”  
Yoobin coughed. “Should I give you two some space and wait outside?”  
Bora turned around to her and gave her a polite smile. “No! Siyeon, can we maybe continue this talk inside?”  
That wasn’t good at all.   
“Inside?” Yoobin repeated. “Do you have a key?”  
Before Siyeon had the chance to say something, Bora answered the question. “Why wouldn’t she have a key for her own apartment?”  
It was over now. Yoobin’s jaw dropped open and she made a threatening step into Siyeon’s direction. “Your apartment?”  
There was no way Siyeon could talk herself out of this now, was there? She tried to come up with something, anything, but the silence just dragged on and got more and more suspicious. “I don’t live here, “ she said after an eternity.   
Now it was Bora’s time to be shocked. “You don’t live here? What do you mean?”  
“Yoohyeon lives here, “ she explained. “I ordered these boots for her…”  
“You’re not a good liar.” Bora shook her head a bit. “What is going on?”  
Yoobin stepped even closer to Siyeon. “Tell me the truth. Where do you live? Who lives in that apartment?”  
“Yoohyeon does.”   
“And where do you live?” Bora asked.   
Siyeon pointed towards the ceiling. “Different floor.”  
It was obvious that no one believed her.   
“So you’re living on the street?” Bora said, sounding kind of worried.   
“You two are sharing the apartment, “ Yoobin stated at the same time. She gave Bora a weird look and lightly shook her head.   
A wave of relief washed over Bora’s face. “So you’re living together?”  
Siyeon shrugged. “Maybe.”  
“You just started dating and you’re already living together?” Yoobin seemed pretty upset.   
“Or maybe… you dated in secret? Is that the reason you moved out? You wanted to live with your girlfriend?” There was a bright smile on Bora’s face. “You were jealous because you couldn’t live with your girlfriend! And you knew that Minji would be against it, so you hid it.”  
Siyeon almost started laughing. She didn’t even have to do anything, Bora had just made up a perfect story for her. That had been incredibly easy. “Minji can’t find out.” She tried to act like she was in panic.   
“I don’t think she would force you to come back. She just wants to be part of your life and take care of you. You should tell her about this.”   
Yoobin was far away from being as excited as Bora. “You are actually living together? Yoohyeon used to hate you. Why would she suddenly move in with you?”  
“That’s what love can do, “ Bora said. “It makes people go crazy. Just like it did with me and Minji…” She seemed to remember the real reason she had come here. “But she’s been so distant lately.”  
“Talk to her about it, “ Siyeon told her. Now that Bora thought that it was all because of romance, she would want to be friends with Siyeon again. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for that, but she would have to be if she wanted the truth to stay hidden.   
Bora nodded slowly. “I will if you do.”  
“I promise I will tell her about this soon.”  
Yoobin just looked between them. “Can we come back to the fact that they are living together? They are both minors. Is that even legal?”  
“What’s your problem?” Siyeon wanted to know. “It’s better than living alone, isn’t it?”  
Yoobin didn’t seem to think so. “I don’t trust you.”  
“Does that matter? Yoohyeon does. Maybe talk to Yoohyeon if you have an opinion on her living with me.” Siyeon was glad that she could just push the responsibility onto other people. It wasn’t really her place to talk about Bora’s and Minji’s relationship or to deal with whatever worries Yoobin had about her anyway.   
“I’ll wait for her, “ Yoobin announced.   
“I wanna talk to her too! Thank her for taking care of our little Siyeon.” Bora was grinning again now. “I can’t believe that you’re living together! I still remember the times in middle school when you had like the biggest…”   
“Rivalry with her, “ Siyeon interrupted. Yoobin didn’t have to know that she used to have a crush on Yoohyeon.  
“Crush on her, “ Bora finished her own sentence unbothered. “Your whole story is so adorable, from start to end. You should definitely perform the middle school duet at your wedding.”  
It wasn’t unusual for Bora to bring up a wedding. Siyeon couldn’t deny that that would be pretty iconic. She might have had the same thought back in middle school.   
“You had a crush on her in middle school?” Yoobin repeated.   
Siyeon shook her head. “No!”  
“Come on… she had it bad for Yoohyeon. She talked about her non-stop and always tried to find ways to catch her attention. She even wrote poems and love letters about her.” Bora was laughing now. It was kind of nice to see her happy instead of crying and worrying over her relationship, but it bothered Siyeon a bit that she was exposing her like that. And that she was getting so much joy out of the fact that Siyeon supposedly had a girlfriend now.   
What if Yoobin talked to Yoohyeon about this? She absolutely did not need to know about that. Knowing Yoohyeon, she would probably want to read the poems and love letters. They were horrible. The worst thing she had written during that period was a diary entry though, in which she planned to confess her feelings to Yoohyeon using their choreo from the duet. That was probably the stupidest idea she ever had in her whole life and it was a good thing that she never followed through with it.   
Yoobin stared at Siyeon with a judging look on her face for a moment, then she changed the subject and nodded at the door. “Can we come in now that we know about it?”  
“I guess.” Siyeon wasn’t keen on hanging out in her flat with Lee Yoobin and Kim Bora, but she felt like she had no other choice but to let them in now. She’d just go to work a bit earlier than usual and let Yoohyeon deal with their guests. She opened the door and let the two of them in.   
Yoobin immediately went to take in every detail. She spent a solid minute looking around in the bathroom before she reached the living room and inspected everything there. Then she saw the two open doors and the separate beds inside. “At least you’re sleeping in separate rooms, “ she mumbled.   
Bora was also looking around a bit but with a way less judging expression than Yoobin. “This is such a nice apartment!”  
“Her parents don’t know about this, right?” Yoobin asked.   
“No. If you tell them, I’ll personally come kill you.” Siyeon was kind of serious about this one. Yoohyeon was clear about not wanting to move to the countryside with her parents, so she would support that wish.   
Before Yoobin could answer, the door opened and Yoohyeon came in. “Why are you standing there like that? You wanna be an asshole again?” she said when she saw Siyeon. She only noticed their two guests when she walked into the living room. The angry look on her face was replaced by shock and confusion. “What’s happening?”  
Yoobin was smiling now, for some reason. “Good things.”   
“Siyeon told us that you two are living together, “ Bora explained. “Thank you for taking care of her.”  
“You told them?” Yoohyeon’s pissed off expression returned. “Why?”  
“I didn’t tell them. They found out on their own.”  
“It’s true. They were talking outside when I arrived here and I’m not dumb enough to not put it together after that, “ Yoobin confirmed.   
Yoohyeon closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she pointed at Yoobin. “Let’s talk in my room.” She looked at Siyeon for a moment. “We’ll talk later.” Then she walked straight into her room, followed by Yoobin.   
After the two of them were gone, Bora gave Siyeon a worried look. “Are you two fighting?”  
“Yeah. I said something and she got pissed off and I don’t really understand why and we haven’t had a chance to talk about it…”  
Bora put a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry that we came at the worst time possible. But I’m glad that I know now. I missed being part of your life and I think Minji feels the same way… don’t wait too long. Tell her as soon as you are ready, okay?”  
She nodded. Now that Bora came up with this whole lie, it wouldn’t be too hard tell Minji about it. It was actually kind of perfect that middle school Siyeon had this big crush on Yoohyeon and never shut up about her, that just made it all seem so believable.   
“I’m gonna go now and try to find Minji. If you need any help or advice, contact me.” Bora hugged her. It didn’t hurt Siyeon’s heart as much as she thought it would. Actually, she felt pretty good about hugging her like the friend she was.   
“See you, “ she said to her before Bora left the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this week's update! feedback's greatly appreciated, as always!


	8. Chapter 8

“You can’t tell my parents.”  
Yoobin nodded. “Of course not. It’s not my secret to tell. But I need you to understand that you can’t keep this from them forever. You have to tell them eventually.”  
“They’ll force me to move.” Yoohyeon was glad that Yoobin was going to keep quiet, but she was already tired of Yoobin pestering her to tell her parents.   
“Are you sure? Your parents are letting you live on your own, why would they mind if you lived with another girl your age? They are probably going to be relieved that you are not alone all the time.”  
“When they left, they said if anything went wrong, I’d have to move to the countryside with them. They wanted everything to be exactly the way they had planned it.” There was no way her parents would just let her live in that apartment after finding out that it had been involved in a scam, but Yoobin didn’t know about that either. If she did, she would be even more upset about all of this.   
Yoobin shrugged. “I don’t think they’d force you to leave the city. Just tell them.”  
She wasn’t in the mood to talk more about it. “I’ll consider it.”  
That seemed to be enough for Yoobin, because she changed the topic. “What is this thing between you and Lee Siyeon?”  
“We’re in love.” Immediately after the words left her mouth, a visible frown appeared on Yoobin’s face. Had that sounded too unnatural? It probably had.   
“What was that thing earlier? You seemed a bit… pissed off.”  
Yoohyeon had been pissed off. She knew that Siyeon was right. It was stupid to bring in a stranger for the solo, but at that moment, it had just annoyed the hell out of her for some reason. Maybe it was because she knew Siyeon only said that because she didn’t get the solo and was now pissed at the person who got it. Maybe it was because Handong herself had talked to her about it and said that she had been afraid everyone would hate her for stealing the solo and how glad she was that Yoohyeon was so excited about meeting her.  Maybe it was because Yoohyeon had been hungry back then. Maybe it was because of Siyeon’s reaction to her defending the whole solo thing. The reason didn’t really matter, she had managed to get worked up over something small again, as she often did, and she should definitely apologize for the way she had behaved.   
“It’s just a small disagreement. We’re gonna talk it out later, “ she explained. She’d feel stupid if she had told her the truth.   
Yoobin nodded. “Then maybe I should leave and let you two make up…?”  
“No! You can stay as long as you want, “ Yoohyeon said.   
The other girl seemed uncomfortable and she shook her head, already standing up. “I’m leaving.”  
Yoohyeon let her walk out on her own, only yelling a short “See you” after her. Then she lay down on her bed and covered her face. She heard a quick conversation between Siyeon and Yoobin and the apartment door being shut. It was time to apologize and get it over with, Yoohyeon knew that. Waiting longer wouldn’t make it any better.   
For a moment, she tried to think up what she could possibly say, but that only made her want to do it less. She took a deep breath before she finally got up, basically running out of her room before she could change her mind again, like the coward she was.   
Siyeon was sitting on the couch, staring down at her phone. When she heard Yoohyeon’s door open, she immediately threw her phone beside her. She was looking straight into her eyes with a blank expression, which made Yoohyeon even more nervous.   
“Uhm… I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. And called you an asshole, “ she mumbled quickly.   
“Apology accepted. I’m sorry if I was being a bit bitchy. I just didn’t really understand why you reacted the way you did. I didn’t mean to say anything against Handong, she has a good voice and seems really nice.” Siyeon smiled a bit at her.   
Yoohyeon could have tried to explain why she had gotten so worked up, but she didn’t want to go into the depths of it, so she just returned the smile and changed the topic. “So… how do you feel now that Bora knows the truth?”  
“Bad. Good. I don’t know, “ Siyeon shrugged. “She was excited about me living with my girlfriend.”  
“That’s a good thing, right?”   
“Yeah. I just hope she is not excited enough to fuck up and accidentally tell Minji about it.”  
Yoohyeon was still completely confused about what was going on between Minji, Bora and Siyeon, she just had no idea what could be going on. “You are not going to tell Minji yourself now? Bora was fine with it, she’s probably going to be as well.”  
“You don’t know that.”  
“And do you know that she isn’t?”  
Siyeon just stared at kitchen for a moment, then she shook her head. “I’m not ready to tell her. I have to leave for work now...” She got up and went into her room without another word.   
Yoohyeon stared at the closed door until she returned to her own. It had been a strange day. It had been a rollercoaster for Yoohyeon’s feelings, going from meeting Handong to arguing with Siyeon to finding out that Yoobin knew now to more or less talking it out with Yoobin and Siyeon. She needed some satisfying rounds in one of her games to calm down from all of that and sort her thoughts. When Siyeon returned, there was still a bit of a weird atmosphere between them, but Yoohyeon hoped that it would die out till the next day. And it did. They both just ignored all the things that had happened on the day before and got back to their usual daily routine. Walking to school together, holding hands at school for a bit to keep up the couple image and walking back home together. Casual conversations over dinner, mostly about school and music, occasionally about middle school and absolutely random stuff. Even the next meeting of the vocal group went by without any major incidents. Until the vocal teacher announced that they would do a choreo for at least one of their songs.   
“If there is one fucking heart in that choreo, I’m gonna quit my whole singing career, “ Siyeon whispered, which made her laugh.   
“This feels like they genuinely want to turn us into some idol group, “ Gahyeon on her other side said.   
The teacher shot them an annoyed look before continuing. “I’m not experienced when it comes to dancing, but I’ve already found someone who will be able to help us with it. She’s an alumna from here and one of the most talented dancers I’ve ever seen.”  
“I guess no hearts then.“ Yoohyeon leaned over to Siyeon, but she just stared at the teacher with a shocked expression. Was she worried about dancing? Yoohyeon couldn’t really imagine that someone as multitalented and powerful as Siyeon couldn’t dance, so maybe there was another problem.   
It only occurred to Yoohyeon when Gahyeon tugged at her shirt. “I know one alumna who can dance really well.”  
It took Yoohyeon’s brain a moment to process this. Was it possible? Did they hire Kim Bora as a choreographer and dance teacher for their vocal group? But she was famous for the school concert scandal… would the principal really allow her to work on the concert again?   
Siyeon raised her hand. “I don’t want to be part of the song with choreo. Singing while dancing is not my strong suit.”  
“Give it a chance. We’ll find a way to work around your skills and the lack there of, but I want all of you to at least give it a chance. The choreo won’t be too hard, I promise.” The teacher gave Siyeon an encouraging smile.   
Yoohyeon was actually kind of excited to get to work with Bora on the choreo, if it really was her. It would look absolutely beautiful for sure and it would be fun to dance with Gahyeon, Handong and Siyeon. But Siyeon seemed to be bothered by the idea of working with Bora, which made sense, considering that she was trying her hardest to avoid her and Minji.   
After the meeting had ended, Siyeon ran straight out of the room. Yoohyeon knew that it was probably her duty as a good fake girlfriend to run after her, but Handong came right over to her and started a conversation in Chinese. “Can you maybe tell me what exactly he said about the choreo? I understood that we are going to dance to one of the songs and that he wouldn’t do it himself, but I’m not quite sure what else he said.”  
“Someone who already graduated from this school will come to help us with the dancing. He said that it’s someone talented and that she will give us a choreo that we all will be able to do well in the end.” Yoohyeon had been trying to learn Chinese for years, but she was still far from being fluent when it came to talking, so she struggled a bit through the sentence. The way Handong smiled at her didn’t really make it any better. The beauty of it was a bit distracting.   
“Thank you! I hope I can do it well… “   
“You will!” Yoohyeon assured her. “We all don’t really have much experience with dancing.” The two of them walked out of the music room onto the hallways.   
“Good to know! It’s lunch time now, isn’t it? Do you maybe wanna go grab lunch with me?”   
Yoohyeon had wanted to go look for Yoobin and talk to her, as they hadn’t seen each other since Tuesday, but she could just text her to meet up later, right? “I’m not allowed to leave the school grounds, but we can get something at the cafeteria, if you want!”  
They spent their time waiting in line at the crowded cafeteria talking about musicals. Handong got really excited when it came to her favorites and talked really fast, which made it hard for Yoohyeon to follow her, but it was enough for her just to see the passion in her eyes.   
“It was Les Miz that made me want to become a musical actress, “ she told her when they sat down at a table. “Back then, I couldn’t imagine ever being invited to perform in Seoul, even if it was in a school, to be honest. And now here I am. I felt so honored and excited when I got asked to do this. But I was also just so nervous about it… But when you came in and started talking in my mother tongue… that made me feel so welcome and really calmed me.”  
“I’m glad you were invited here. And there was no reason to be nervous! You’re so kind and talented. I know that some of the others might be a bit bitchy to you, but that’s just because they wanted the solo for themselves.”  
“I get that. When I agreed to do this, I didn’t know that there was usually a student that sang the solo and I really didn’t want to take it away from anyone, I’m sorry that I did.”   
“Don’t be. It’s nice that they’re changing the concert up for once.” Yoohyeon smiled at her. The solo at the school concert had been her big goal for this year, but it was enough for her now that Siyeon didn’t get it and that she got to sing in the vocal group along with her best friend and the talented Chinese girl. She already liked her a lot after the two times they had talked. She was just so kind and it was easy to get along with her.   
“You would have deserved the solo, though. You have a great voice.”  
Hearing that compliment made Yoohyeon feel flustered, especially because it was coming from a famous musical actress. “Thank you.”   
“Maybe we will get to sing a duet. I would like that very much, “ Handong said, looking down at her food.   
“Me too.” Yoohyeon gave her a bright smile.

“So… what do you think about me living with Siyeon?” Yoohyeon asked Yoobin after they had both settled down on the couch in her living room. It was Friday afternoon, Siyeon was at work and Yoohyeon had decided that it was the best time to have another conversation with Yoobin about this topic.   
Yoobin sighed a bit. “I think you’re rushing into something. You basically started dating and then right away decided to move in together, right?”  
“Yeah. When it was certain that I would be going to live on my own, we decided to move in together, even though we’ve only been dating for such a short time, “ Yoohyeon lied. She didn’t like lying to Yoobin, but it was the only way to cover up the scam.   
“And you never told me about you two dating… I thought you two hated each other. Apparently, you didn’t even hate each other back in middle school.”  
Yoohyeon was confused. “What are you talking about? Siyeon was my enemy in middle school. She was in my way when it came to the solo. I did hate her.”  
“But didn’t she have like this big crush on you?” Yoobin asked.   
That was news to Yoohyeon. “What did she tell you?”  
“I don’t know… that she had crush on you in middle school and wrote poems and stuff about it and never shut up about you.”   
Did Siyeon really have to go as far as making up lies about having a crush on her in middle school, poems and all? That was a bit too much and over the top, wasn’t it? “She wrote poems about me?” Yoohyeon tried to act like she found this adorable or something like that. “I’m gonna have to ask her to show them to me.”  
Yoobin rolled her eyes. “You didn’t know about the crush?”  
“She mentioned it before, but she never said anything about poems…” Yoohyeon grinned a bit. She hoped her acting was anywhere close to being believable.   
“Anyway, I’m still surprised that the two of you are actually a couple now.” Yoobin shook her head a bit.   
“Trust me, I was as surprised as you when I fell for her. It came out of nowhere. We just… started talking… and it happened.” It was time to change the subject. Yoohyeon didn’t have any more energy to lie in her body. “Did I tell you that we are going to dance with the vocal group?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! feedback is greatly appreciated!!!
> 
> IMPORTANT: i've added the homophobia tag bc of future chapters!!! I will add warnings to those chapters, of course, but I wanted to inform you all that this will be a topic in the future. There will be several chapters about the issue and it will be referenced in even more, but I will try to keep the mood the fic has had up until now. Focus will stay on their romance and the concert plotline!!!


	9. Chapter 9

“Yoobin told me about the middle school crush thing.”  
It was Friday evening and Yoohyeon had been watching some reality TV show in the living room before turning it off to start a conversation, while Siyeon was preparing dinner for the both of them. After all the times Yoohyeon had cooked for her she had insisted on doing it today. She couldn’t do much, despite all the times Bora had tried to teach her, just noodles and a simple sauce, but she hoped that it would turn out edible at least. She even toned it down on the onions and put in like half of what she would have put in if it was for herself only.  
Siyeon turned around. “She told you what?” A wave of panic and embarrassment washed over her. Yoohyeon knew. Yoohyeon knew about her stupid middle school crush.  
“That you told her that you used to have a big crush on me in middle school and wrote poems about me.” Yoohyeon laughed a bit. Of course she thought that that was funny. She would never let this go, would she?  
“Uhm… yeah…” Siyeon said, quickly turning around to the food again. “That was…” She wanted to say that that was a long time ago, but Yoohyeon interrupted her.  
“It was a bit too much, don’t you think? Making up a crush in middle school is just not necessary to make our love story believable. I liked the rivalry to romance thing. And now it’s rivalry to romance for me and crush to girlfriend for you?”  
She almost let out a sigh of relief. She had really gotten lucky lately, with Bora and Yoohyeon coming up with believable lies for her to hide her crushes on them. “Yeah… maybe that was a bit much…”  
“And you should tell me when you make changes in our story. I had a hard time trying to fake a believable reaction to this, “ Yoohyeon continued.  
“I will. I just forgot about saying that, to be honest… It was all a bit much last Tuesday.” Siyeon laughed awkwardly. “I won’t change the story again, I promise.”  
“Maybe we should put down the details of the story, “ Yoohyeon suggested. “We started talking like… half a year ago, right? Because of our music class.”  
“Right. And then we got along really well and spent more and more time together.”  
“Until we eventually fell in love. You kissed me for the first time in a park. Two weeks later we found out that my parents would be moving away…”  
“..And decided to live together.” Siyeon nodded a bit, half turning around to Yoohyeon. “We knew that it was early, but we were sure about our feelings for each other and decided to give it a try.”  
“Yes! And we kept all of this a secret because I’m not out to my parents yet…”  
“And because we thought that the people around us wouldn’t approve of us living together, “ Siyeon added.  
“Perfect. And you used to have a crush on me in middle school but I only found out about that when we started dating.”  
“Why did we decide to go public though?” she asked.  
“We were tired of hiding. We both got into the vocal group together and then we were just like ‘Fuck it, I wanna openly date that talented girl and stop hiding’.”  
Siyeon nodded, satisfied with their made up story. “We maybe should have talked about that before we started this madness.”  
“Wouldn’t have been a bad idea.” Yoohyeon grabbed the TV remote again. “Should we watch a movie while eating dinner?”  
Siyeon had a better idea. “Or we could listen to some music?”  
Yoohyeon jumped up. “Good thinking.” She went into her room and came back with her phone and a Bluetooth box. Then she put on one of Siyeon’s favorites songs at the moment and immediately started singing along.  
Siyeon just listened to her sing until the chorus, then she couldn’t resist anymore and chimed in as well. It was fun to try to harmonize with Yoohyeon and the recording of the song. When the interlude started, Yoohyeon suddenly clapped her hands. “Turn around and don’t look!” she told her and vanished into her room. Confused, Siyeon did what she had said, staring at the noodles in the pot in front of her.  
She heard Yoohyeon returning from her room a bit later. What was her plan? She was shuffling through things and walking around, but Siyeon had absolutely no idea what she could possibly be doing. The song they had sang along to before ended and the next one started, a really upbeat pop song.  
“Close your eyes and turn around, “ Yoohyeon ordered after several minutes.  
The confusion in Siyeon grew more and more, but she did exactly what Yoohyeon told her to. She noticed the lights going out and then the song was suddenly stopped in the middle of the chorus and a softer, slower song started. “Okay, you can open them again, “ Yoohyeon said.  
She was standing on the couch, a bright smile on her face, her arms opened wide. Her eyes were glowing. She had put a bunch of fairy lights Siyeon didn’t even know she owned everywhere in the room, behind her on the curtain rod, around the TV, at the door. She had put some pillows and blankets and built a small and comfortable space on the floor around the living room table. In the middle of the table stood a lit up LED candle. It wasn’t much, but it made their home look wonderful and Siyeon loved the atmosphere Yoohyeon had created. “Wow, “ she said and smiled at her roommate. “It looks beautiful.” The set up was really romantic and seeing Yoohyeon standing there in the soft light, smiling like that, made her feel a lot of strange things.  
Yoohyeon got down from the sofa, her eyes still being the brightest lights in the room. “You like it? I thought maybe it was dumb.”  
“No!” Siyeon shook her head. “It’s wonderful.” It wasn’t good for her heart, though. It was beating a bit too fast and there was this suspicious warm feeling in her chest.  
And then Yoohyeon destroyed it all with one sentence. “I thought maybe we could take some couple-y pictures for Instagram.”  
A wave of disappointment washed through Siyeon. This was just to keep up the image of their fake relationship, of fucking course. What did she think this was? As if Yoohyeon would set up something like this just to spend a nice evening with her.  
“Dinner will be ready in a second, “ Siyeon said, turning back to the stove and slowly breathing in for a few times. What was going on with her?  
Yoohyeon started to sing along to the music again, taking drinks out of the fridge and setting the table. “It smells good. When you said you’d make dinner, I thought it would be noodles and onions again.”  
“My cooking skills go far beyond that.” The food seemed to be ready, so she turned off the stove and carried it to the table. “I picked up a bit from Bora, I’m just usually too lazy to cook something complicated.”  
“It looks good enough for some Instagram pics, “ Yoohyeon said as she sat down on one of the pillows, her phone in her hand.  
Siyeon went to get her phone as well before she sat down in front of her. “Smile, “ she said and took a picture of Yoohyeon and the food. Her eyes were closed and it looked like she was enjoying the smell coming from the pot.  
“Your turn, “ Yoohyeon said. Siyeon made sure that her hair looked okay before she put both her thumps up and grinned at the camera. The other girl gave her a satisfied look before she put the phone down and filled her plate. “I gained 200 followers since we started dating. I don’t even know half of them.”  
“That’s one of the benefits of fake-dating a popular girl, “ Siyeon said. She had over 2k followers, but she had no idea where they all came from. Prior to her fake relationship with Yoohyeon, she had posted two pictures. One of her on stage during a karaoke night Minji and Bora had dragged her to and one of her standing in front of a mural of angel wings. A white cap was covering half her face and she was dressed completely white. She had only posted it because Bora had told her that she thought it was really cool.  
“What are the other benefits?” Yoohyeon asked, stuffing her mouth with noodles, which made it hard to understand her.  
“You have a beautiful and talented girlfriend. Everyone’s jealous of you. And, this is the most important one and really, the only one that matters, you get to enjoy my cooking.”  
They ate in silence, listening to the music coming from the box. Yoohyeon complimented the food a few times and Siyeon had to admit that she did a good job with it. It was delicious. Bora would be proud of her. After they both had finished dinner, they curled up next to each other between the pillows and blankets.  
“That was really good. Is there even anything that you can’t do?” Yoohyeon wrapped a blanket around her shoulders while saying that.  
There were a lot of things Siyeon couldn’t do, but she just laughed. “I guess not.”  
“I thought I had found one thing I can do better than you… “ Yoohyeon shook her head a bit.  
“You are better at this fake dating thing, especially when it comes to Instagram, “ Siyeon told her and nodded towards the fairy lights. “I wouldn’t have made all this effort just for one little post.”  
Yoohyeon looked around the room and just shrugged with a little smile. “I like it like that. It’s cozy and comfortable. We should decorate this room a bit more.”  
“We could go shopping tomorrow if you want, “ Siyeon suggested. “I’m off work.”  
Yoohyeon clapped excitedly. “Yes! Some new lamps, blankets, pillows… and plants. I definitely think we should buy plants.”  
Siyeon nodded in agreement. “I’m not good with plants though, so you will have to keep them alive on your own.”  
“Wait. Is that actually a thing you’re bad at?” Yoohyeon grinned and put her head on Siyeon’s shoulder. “Even the powerful Siyeon has a weakness.”  
She did have a big weakness, but it surely was not her inability to take care of plants. It was the way Yoohyeon’s head comfortably resting on her shoulder made her feel. A worrying thought rose inside of her mind, but she pushed it away. “I just always forget to water them… “  
“We’ll keep them alive together, “ Yoohyeon promised. “I’ll help you remember to water them and you’ll stop me from overwatering them.”  
“I feel like those plants will be dead after one week.”  
Yoohyeon turned her head on her shoulder a bit, laughing. “No.”  
Suddenly, Yoohyeon’s phone on the table lit up, showing an incoming call by her mother. She sighed, taking her head off Siyeon’s shoulder and slowly getting up. “I should take this. I haven’t talked to her all week.”  
Siyeon gave her an understanding smile. She was sad that their little cuddle moment was already over, but it was important to spend as much time as possible with parents, as long as one had the chance to do so, she knew that.  
“Hey… Yeah, everything’s fine… You talked to Yoobin?” She vanished into her room and closed the door before Siyeon could catch more of the conversation. Did Yoobin tell her parents about them living together?  
She stayed on the sofa a bit longer, wrapping a blanket around herself, in hopes of Yoohyeon returning soon so that they could continue talking about plants. She prepared the Instagram post while waiting, trying to come up with a good caption for the picture she had taken of Yoohyeon. It had to be something simple, not too cheesy, but still cute.  
She was still thinking about it when Yoohyeon came out of her room again. “I’m tired, so I should go to bed, “ she announced and picked up the dishes from the table, carrying them over to the kitchen.  
Siyeon jumped up to help her. “Is everything all right? Did Yoobin tell them anything?”  
“Everything’s fine.” Something definitely seemed to be wrong, but Siyeon didn’t want to push her into talking about it. Yoohyeon turned around to her. “Let me take care of this. You can go to bed if you want to.”  
Siyeon had just wanted to offer the same thing. “Let’s just do it together, it’s faster that way.”  
They worked in silence. Siyeon cleaned the dishes and put the left overs in small containers to store them in the fridge. Yoohyeon collected the pillows and blankets again and turned off the fairy lights. “Thank you for the food, “ she said before she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.  
“You’re welcome, “ Siyeon whispered after her.

When she was lying in her bed later, she finally had time to think about things carefully. Moments flashed through her head, of her thinking about holding hands with Yoohyeon, the tight feeling in her chest when she saw Yoohyeon talking to Handong, the countless moments she caught herself staring at Yoohyeon or thinking about her or the way her singing made her feel, her heart beating faster when she had seen Yoohyeon smiling between the fairy lights and then the disappointment when she brought up Instagram… her dumb middle school crush on Kim Yoohyeon was definitely and without any doubt back again, just as strong and annoying as it had used to be. Why did it have to be Kim Yoohyeon of all people? What was it about her that always pulled in Siyeon time and time again?  
And… what about her feelings for Bora?  
Minji had become friends with Bora in tenth grade. Usually, Minji’s friend hadn’t cared a bit about Siyeon, three years younger and not actually related to Minji, even though they called each other sisters. But Bora made the effort to get to know Siyeon. Suddenly, she was invited to go to the cinema with the two older girls or go out and eat with them. When Siyeon started to crush on Yoohyeon, Bora was already around. But after two years of pining after someone who didn’t seem to like her at all, she got tired of it and her feelings kind of faded away. And then there was this absolutely gorgeous older girl that moved like a goddess, laughed about Siyeon’s stupid jokes, complimented her voice and told her to go after her dreams. She started to fall for how loud and hyped up she could be sometimes. She started to fall for how touchy she was, how addicted to hold someone else with her hands, arms, legs. She started to fall for the way her eyes glowed when she talked about something she loved. Sooner or later, she was head over heels for Kim Bora, her sister’s best friend.  
Her secret crush on Bora continued for a while. And then, one day, without any warning, Minji sat down with Siyeon and told her that she and Bora had fallen in love with each other. That was the day hell started for Siyeon. They hadn’t even been dating for three months when they decided to move in together. She couldn’t just live in the same apartment as her sister and the girl she was in love with. She couldn’t bear it. So she moved out.  
Now, when she thought about Bora, she only connected her to the pain and jealousy she had felt over the past few months. She knew now, with an absolute certainty, that Bora would never be with her. If she was completely honest with herself, she knew that they wouldn’t have worked out, even if she hadn’t fallen for Minji. There were still some feelings left in her for Bora, but those feelings only made her sad and bitter.  
Was it possible that she was using Yoohyeon as a replacement for Bora? That she just projected her unfulfilled romantic feelings onto the next girl possible?  
Did that matter anyway? Her crush on Yoohyeon had to disappear. She had no idea how long she would continue living with her or how long they would keep up the fake dating. Having actual feelings for Yoohyeon would make everything way more complicated and it wouldn’t be good for her heart at all. It didn’t matter where those feelings were coming from, they had to go. As soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of my personal fave chapters so far hehe I hope you all enjoyed it!!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: HOMOPHOBIA (**see notes for more information**)

When Yoohyeon woke up on Saturday morning, the last thing she wanted to do was go shopping with Siyeon. She had barely slept last night, and when she did fall asleep for a few hours, she had dreamed about horrible things. So she just stayed in bed and stared at the ceiling, trying not to think about the conversation with her mother yesterday, but failing horribly.  
_“Your father and I just talked to Yoobin… About you and Lee Siyeon.”_  
Yesterday, she had been in too much of a shock to really process the things her mother had said, but her brain was slowly understanding what was going on. There were a hundred emotions she should probably be feeling right now. Anger, betrayal, fear, devastation, sadness… But instead she just felt empty.  
She heard Siyeon’s door being opened, quiet steps on the floor, down the stairs. A hesitant “Good Morning”. The fridge being opened and closed again. Yoohyeon just ignored all of it. Maybe Siyeon would leave her in peace. Maybe she had forgotten about their shopping date. Yoohyeon hoped she did.  
The evening before had been nice. It had everything a wonderful and chill evening needed: good music, good food, good company and a nice set up. Yoohyeon had never thought she would ever feel that comfortable around Lee Siyeon. It had been fun. It had made Yoohyeon feel as if they could become actual friends - maybe they already were. And then…  
_“Your father is too shocked to talk to you. I am shocked too. We will both need some time to think this over and consider our next step from here.”_  
Lying on her bed all the day wasn’t the way to get rid of these thoughts. She had to get out and focus on something else, do something else, keep her mind off of it. Otherwise she would turn crazy. Maybe going shopping with Siyeon was just the thing she needed. Maybe if she pretended that everything was all right, she would feel all right. She would fake her way through the day until it would become reality.  
She got out of bed, got dressed and burst out of her room. “Good Morning!” she yelled. Too loud, too excited.  
Siyeon stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “What the fuck happened to you?”  
_“What happened that made you like this? Did we fail as parents?”_  
“I’m excited for today, “ she said and walked towards the fridge to get milk and a glass. Then she sat down next to Siyeon at the kitchen table. “I have a lot of plans! A long list of things we should buy for this place…”  
Siyeon frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t go today…”  
Yoohyeon was tempted to take that offer, but she had gotten out of bed and made it this far. She needed this distraction. “No, we are going today! Get ready, we have a long day before us.” She jugged down her milk and then stood up again. “I’m gonna use the bathroom first today if you don’t mind.”  
She put a lot of effort into her appearance for some reason. She braided her hair into two pig tails, put on some makeup and then spent a solid fifteen minutes looking for the perfect outfit. She decided on a plaid dress she really liked. Siyeon was already ready and waiting for her in the living room when she was done with everything.  
“Let’s go!” Yoohyeon said and rushed out of the door before she the voice of her mother could stop her.

On their way to the store, Siyeon barely said a word, but that wasn’t necessary, because Yoohyeon couldn’t stop talking. She was afraid that if she stopped talking, she would think about her parents again and she wanted to avoid that at all costs. So she kept on letting the words fall out of her mouth. She had never known that she was able to fill half an hour with her opinions on plant pots and blankets. And fairy lights were a bottomless source of monologue material. She wasn’t sure whether Siyeon was listening or not, but she didn’t care. She just kept on talking.  
When they arrived at the store, she slowly walked through the aisles and carefully looked at everything. She took her time to weigh the pros and cons of more expensive pieces and if they would really fit in their apartment and where they could possibly put them. Smaller things just got thrown into the shopping cart without much consideration. Siyeon walked next to her and didn’t say a word. She just stared at Yoohyeon with a look of skepticism sometimes.  
_“Lee Siyeon of all people. She looks dangerous. Is she forcing you to do this…?”_  
Yoohyeon felt like she spiraled into something. The more she tried to get into the shopping, the more things she threw into the cart, the louder she could hear her mother’s voice in her ears. If she couldn’t silence it, she had to overpower it, so she talked even louder and faster.  
“That would look nice next to the TV, “ she said and pointed at a random little tree in front of her that would not look nice next to their TV at all. “I like the leaves. They look soft. Don’t you think? Maybe we could put fairy lights into it. That would look pretty cool. And we would need to buy another pot for it, preferably white and with some sort of texture. I think I saw something fitting a few aisles back… but it was too small. That tree is quite big. But it’s beautiful. Can you help me lift it? Will it even fit into our cart?” She looked at the already overflowing shopping cart next to her. “Siyeon, could you get another cart? I will wait here for you.”  
“That tree is literally a quarter of the sum we pay as rent every month, “ Siyeon interrupted her.  
Yoohyeon looked at the price tag. “You’re right. That’s a lot of money for a tree. Or is it? I gotta admit, I don’t know how much money trees are actually worth. Probably a lot. They produce oxygen after all. If that doesn’t make them valuable, I don’t know what on this planet even is. Let’s keep on looking. Maybe we will find…” She kept on walking when suddenly, her eyes fell on a bunch of orchids that looked exactly like the ones her mother loved and used to keep in their living room. That’s when all the energy left her body and everything hit her again.  
_“We can’t support it. You have to understand.”_  
Suddenly, she was standing in front of the orchids, tears streaming down her face.  
“Find what?” Siyeon asked. “Do you want an orchid?”  
Yoohyeon tried to hold back the tears, but it didn’t work. “No, “ she whispered. “No orchid.”  
Siyeon put a hand on her shoulder. “Yoohyeon. Are you okay? Is everything all right? You have been acting strange all morning.”  
Yoohyeon nodded.  
Siyeon softly turned her body a bit. When she saw the tears, she frowned even more than before. “You are crying, “ she stated.  
“I know.”  
“Why?”  
_“You should talk to a psychologist…this is not normal.”_  
“I think I’m allergic to something in here, “ Yoohyeon tried to lie.  
Siyeon gently wiped away a tear from her cheek. “Don’t lie. It’s okay. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Why don’t you go to the bakery opposite of the store and get something sweet to eat or a hot chocolate? I will bring all of this back and then we will go home, okay?”  
Yoohyeon didn’t really wanna go home, but she nodded. She was glad that Siyeon wasn’t asking more questions but rather took control over the situation. Yoohyeon just followed her instructions. She sat down in the bakery, ordered a hot chocolate and a piece of cake and then she waited for Siyeon, distracting herself from the thoughts in her head by listening to the conversations of strangers.  
Siyeon returned a bit later with a paper bag in her hand. She sat down next to Yoohyeon and gave her the bag. “I got this for you.”  
It contained a cute stuffed animal that had tissues inside of it. Yoohyeon immediately took one and wiped over her eyes and her nose. “Thanks.”  
“You’re welcome.” Siyeon looked at the untouched piece of cake and the still completely filled cup on the table. “You should drink and eat. It will make you feel better.”  
Yoohyeon nodded and took a small bite of the cake and a small sip of the hot chocolate. Only then she noticed how hungry she was. She finished the cake in no time.  
“What do you need?” Siyeon asked her. “Do you want to go home? Do you want to talk to someone? Should I get Gahyeon for you?”  
“Could you call Gahyeon?”

When Gahyeon arrived, Yoohyeon had already finished her second piece of cake. During the time it had taken Gahyeon to come, Siyeon hadn’t said much, only occasionally giving her a worried look.  
“Yoohyeon!” Gahyeon ran into the bakery and carefully put an arm around Yoohyeon. “Babe, what’s going on?”  
She hugged her best friend, pulling her closer. “My parents…” she got out, new tears walling up inside of her. “They…”  
_“Do not call us. We will contact you soon.”_  
Gahyeon shushed her while stroking through her hair. “Take your time. Cry it out.”  
And Yoohyeon did. She buried her face deep into Gahyeon’s jacket and let it out, allowing herself to feel all the emotions she had tried to push back the last few hours. After some time, she finally felt like she could breathe properly again. When she stopped crying and released Gahyeon, she noticed that Siyeon was already gone.  
“Sorry, “ she said and wiped over the wet space on Gahyeon’s jacket with a tissue. “I’m so sorry.”  
“It’s okay.” Gahyeon took her hands from her jacket and pulled her from the chair. “Let’s go and clean you up a bit.”  
In the restroom mirror, she noticed how smudged and puffy her face looked. Gahyeon helped her clean up the mess her makeup had made and then let her splash cold water onto her face. Yoohyeon looked and felt a bit more human after that.  
Before leaving the bakery, Gahyeon bought a bunch of cookies. Then they walked arm in arm through the streets of the city in silence, enough time for Yoohyeon to collect her thoughts and calm down. When she was ready to talk, she guided Gahyeon to a bench in the small park.  
“So… what happened with her parents?” her best friend asked.  
“Yoobin told them that I’m dating Lee Siyeon.”  
Yoohyeon could basically see Gahyeon’s brain processing that information till she understood the full meaning of it. “Fuck. So they know you’re gay? Fuck. They didn’t take it well, did they?”  
_“Is this about drugs? Lee Siyeon looks like that kind of girl. If this is just about drugs, we can make it. We will get you help, Yoohyeon. Addiction can be cured.”_  
“Nope. Not at all.”  
“I’m so sorry.” Gahyeon took her hand. “What did they say? Do they want you to move to the countryside?”  
“They want time to process this, “ Yoohyeon told her. “To consider the next steps. There are two options what could happen now. Either they’ll force me to move in with them and try to get the gay out of me or they’ll disown me and never contact me again.”  
Gahyeon tried to stay optimistic. “You could get a job. Siyeon is doing it, you can too. Or… you could move in with me. I know that it’s hard because they’re your parents, but don’t let them get to you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you and you shouldn’t try to change yourself for them.”  
Yoohyeon took Gahyeon’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m trying.”  
“So… Yoobin told them?”  
“Apparently.” She couldn’t deny that she was kind of furious about it. The hours Yoohyeon had spent telling Yoobin about how afraid she was of her parents’ reaction to her coming out seemed to have left not impression on her at all. “She probably just fucked up on accident or thought they knew now that I have a girlfriend.”  
“Still not okay.” Gahyeon was shaking her head a bit. “I kind of lost my respect for her.”  
“I’ll talk to her about it, eventually. I just feel like I have lost my family.”  
They spent almost an hour in the park, mostly in silence. Occasionally, Gahyeon asked a question or Yoohyeon would start talking on her own. They ate their cookies before they got up and slowly walked back towards the apartment.  
Siyeon was waiting for them inside, looking genuinely worried. She immediately jumped up when they entered the living room. “Are you feeling better? I have made some soup if you want… Minji always makes it for me whenever I’m down. Or… she did.”  
Yoohyeon smiled at her. “Thank you, I appreciate it. Everything you did today… it helped a lot.” It was true. If Yoohyeon had been alone today… everything would have been significantly worse. It was on Siyeon that she was able to smile again now. And on Gahyeon, but if Siyeon hadn’t suggested to call her, Yoohyeon never would have contacted her and just went through it alone.  
“You’re more than welcome. So… do you want some soup?” Siyeon looked between Gahyeon and Yoohyeon.  
“Please! But first, let’s get Yoohyeon into something more comfortable.” Her best friend pushed her up the stairs into her room and closed the door behind her.  
She took her time changing and opening her braids. Then she went to the bathroom to wash her face again before sitting down with the other girls to enjoy the soup. They chatted about music and movies and Yoohyeon felt better with every passing minute.  
After the soup, Gahyeon got ready to leave again and gave Yoohyeon a big hug. “One thing. You know that you do have a family, right? I’m your family. And I always will be. Whatever happens, I’m here for you. Even when everyone turns against you, I’ll be here to support you. You will make it through this, no matter what happens, okay? I love you so much, Yoo.”  
She was close to crying again, but instead she just nodded. “I love you too.”  
“Call me if you need anything. Spend a nice evening gaming or watch a movie or something like that. Okay?” Gahyeon squeezed her once again before letting go.  
Once she had left, Yoohyeon sat down on the couch next to Siyeon. “I’m sorry for ruining the day.”  
“Don’t be. Honestly, never be sorry for something like that. You didn’t ruin the day. We will shop for decorations on another day.” Siyeon smiled at her. “When you’re a bit calmer.”  
“Oh yeah…” Yoohyeon thought back to the time in the store. She couldn’t really remember much, but she knew that she hadn’t stopped talking nonsense and thrown a thousand ugly things into the shopping cart. “Why didn’t you stop me?”  
“I didn’t know how to, “ she admitted. “I knew that something was up… but I had no idea how to handle it. So I just went along, planning to stop you at the end.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. She felt a bit embarrassed, but at least Siyeon was understanding.  
“My parents found out about our ‘relationship’, “ she explained. “I wasn’t out to them. They didn’t take it well.”  
The other girl took her hand. “I’m sorry. Are they… forcing you to move?”  
“Not yet. They need time to ‘process’ it.”  
“If you need financial help or anything… I’m here for you, “ Siyeon offered. “I know we’ve only really got close a few weeks ago but I can be your family, if you want.”  
Hearing Siyeon say that warmed up Yoohyeon’s heart. “Thank you.” Maybe she had lost her parents yesterday. But it would be okay, because she wasn’t alone and she would make it through it. She would have to think about a way to financially support herself, but she would make it through all of this.  
Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **throughout the whole chapter, there are quotes by Yoohyeon's mother, that moslty imply homophobia. focus of the chapter is on Yoohyeon being comforted by Siyeon and Gahyeon** 
> 
> (i hope this is enough as a warning, please tell me if it isn't so I can do it properly next time!!!)
> 
> i'm very sorry, I wanted this to be a purely happy gay fic but this felt right so I went for it... hope you liked this chapter, feedback of all sorts is very much appreciated!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of homophobia and depression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's see how many more characters I can get to tell Yoohyeon that they're her family now...

It was very much like Kim Bora to just burst in on a Saturday evening with the brightest smile on her face and her arms full of shopping bags. “Hey! You don’t have plans, right? I thought we could all hang out together. You, me and your girlfriend.” Bora pushed the bags into the hands of a very perplexed Siyeon and attempted to walk past her into the apartment.   
“Not a good time.” Siyeon tried to hold her back. An excited Bora who wanted to hang out was probably the last thing Yoohyeon needed right now. They had planned to watch a bad but entertaining drama together as a distraction later and eat some candy.   
“Do you have plans?” Bora asked, hesitantly taking a step back. “I can leave again… if you really want me to.”  
“I think it might be better if you go, “ Siyeon said.   
“NO!” Yoohyeon yelled out of the living room. “Stay.”  
Siyeon was surprised, but she stepped out of the way and let Bora into the apartment. Did Yoohyeon really want to spend time with Bora right now?  
When she had closed the door and carried the bags into the living room, she saw Yoohyeon and Bora hugging, which was not really surprising. It made sense that the two of them got along well even though they barely knew each other.   
“Are you okay?” Bora asked when she stepped back, looking at Yoohyeon’s still puffy face and red eyes.   
“Yeah. It’s just that my parents are homophobic assholes.” The silver-haired girl rubbed her eyes and then sat back down on the couch. “But it’s okay.”  
Bora took her hand. “I’m so sorry. Do you wanna talk about what happened? I know a thing or two about homophobic parents.”   
And then Yoohyeon told Bora everything, way more than she had told Siyeon, who was just standing there, watching the thing that was unfolding in front of her. They both barely knew each other and now they were having a personal conversation about homophobic parents and completely ignored Siyeon. That was indeed a bit surprising. Siyeon couldn’t really understand how it was so easy for both of them to open up to each other even though they only met twice before. The only person Siyeon was actually emotionally vulnerable with was Minji… but maybe not anymore. Right now, her way of coping with her dark thoughts was purely based on distracting herself from them.   
“My father didn’t even want to talk to me. My mother says they need time to process this and think about what to do next. And she actually brought up drugs? Really randomly? As if drugs turned me gay or something? And then she literally said ‘Addiction can be cured’? And the silence after it… felt heavy. It sounded as if homosexuality was something that had to be cured as well. And she said that I should see a psychologist… which is just so stupid. If I have a reason to see a psychologist, it’s my fucked up relationship with my parents.”   
“Fuck your biological mother. I’m gonna adopt you, “ Bora announced. “I will be your mother from now on. And I will fight whoever dares to say something homophobic to my daughter.”  
Things just got weirder and weirder with every passing minute. They had barely exchanged a few words before today and now… that?  
“The worst part is… that I don’t know what I’m going to do. What if they just cut me out of their family? I won’t have any money anymore. Or worse, what if they are forcing me to come move in with them again?”  
“Don’t worry, child. You’re part of our family now, as my daughter and Siyeon’s girlfriend, and we will take care of you. Minji and I will help you cover the rent and everything else. We will find a way for you to stay here.” Bora put an arm around Yoohyeon’s shoulders. “Everything’s gonna turn out fine.”  
Siyeon felt awkward, so she sat down at the kitchen table and went through the shopping bags. They contained snacks, drinks and a matching set of PJs. “What is this?” she asked, holding up the bottom of one of them. It was bright pink with little hearts on it.   
Bora started laughing. “I thought you two would look adorable in those. Aren’t they wonderful?”  
Yoohyeon stood up and took a look at the contents of the shopping bag that Siyeon had spread all over the table. Then she picked up the top of one of the PJs. “They are so soft.”  
“I know!” Bora clapped excitedly. “Do you like them?”  
“Yeah. Thank you so much. But you didn’t have to bring us so much food.” Yoohyeon took a few small chocolate cakes and returned to the couch.   
“Don’t complain about free food, “ Siyeon said. “Bora likes taking care of people. By the way, how are things between you and Minji?”  
“They’re good! We talked… everything’s fine… mostly…” Bora laughed again, but it was awkward somehow. There was definitely still something wrong between the two of them, but it was obvious that she didn’t wanna talk about it, because she immediately changed the topic. “Have you talked to Minji yet? I can’t stand seeing the two of you so distant for such a long time.”  
Siyeon herself couldn’t stand the distance between them, but she couldn’t get over herself and just talk to her sister. Have the open and honest conversation they needed. She wasn’t ready yet. Or maybe she was just too scared of it. “I promise I will soon.”  
Bora just scoffed at her empty promise. “Of course. Lee Siyeon, go talk to your sister or I will kick your ass. Do you know that she mentions you like literally every other hour? She brings you up in a casual conversation and immediately after your name has left her mouth, for just a moment, you see her smile falter.”  
That was an effective way to make Siyeon feel guilty. She could imagine Minji’s face, she had seen that happen before, whenever Minji had mentioned her parents. “Soon, “ she repeated. “I will talk to her soon.”  
The older girl sighed. “You’re hopeless.” Then she returned her attention to Yoohyeon again. “You’re both in the vocal group of the school, right?”  
“If you want to make a big deal about becoming our dance teacher and choreographer, don’t. We’ve already guessed that.” Siyeon was still annoyed by it. She wasn’t keen on dancing with Bora at all, even though Bora was the best dancer she knew.   
“You already know? Who told you?” Bora seemed surprised.   
“The teacher told us that a talented alumna would be helping us. It was pretty obvious that he was talking about you, to be honest, “ Yoohyeon explained.   
“Why are you doing it?” Siyeon asked, trying not to sound too pissed off.   
“The teacher came to the studio to ask me about it. I thought it would be pretty cool, so I agreed. I didn’t even know you were in that vocal group back then. I just assumed you would sing a solo. But I met Handong a few days ago and found out the truth.” Bora shrugged a bit. “Handong’s so nice and soft, don’t you think?”  
“Yeah! Even through the language barrier, it’s easy to get along with her, I think, “ Yoohyeon agreed. “And her voice is nice.”  
Siyeon couldn’t bear to listen to them gush over Handong, so she took out her phone and distracted herself with a game.   
Bora stayed for the whole evening and even though it made Siyeon feel awkward, it was good to see Yoohyeon relaxed and happy. Bora really knew how to make someone feel better, even if it was someone she had just met a few weeks ago. After a few hours, Bora finally excused herself and left the apartment, leaving Yoohyeon and Siyeon alone again.   
“I’m so glad she came. I’m sorry if her presence made you uncomfortable.”   
“It was fine. I’m glad that it made you feel better.” Siyeon smiled at her a bit. “Do you wanna go to bed now? Or should we watch a movie or something?”  
“I’m tired. But… could we … sleep in the same room? I don’t want to be alone right now.” Yoohyeon asked, obvious insecurity on her face.   
Of course Siyeon couldn’t refuse. She’d do everything to help Yoohyeon right now. “Let’s both sleep here, okay? You just get ready and I’ll set everything up.”

“Do your parents know?”  
They were both lying on the living room floor on their improvised beds. Siyeon had thought that Yoohyeon had already fallen asleep until she had suddenly asked that question.   
“I have never really met my parents, “ she said. “I grew up in an orphanage.”  
Yoohyeon was quiet for a while. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”  
“It’s okay. Very little people know.”  
“And Minji…?”  
“I met her there when I was twelve. It was the lowest point of my life, to be honest.” Siyeon had never talked about this with anyone beside Minji, but for some reason, the words just flowed out of her in that moment. “My parents died when I was still a baby. I lived with my grandmother until I was six years old, but then she was clinically depressed. Bad times came, she stopped taking her meds, she wasn’t in any condition to take care of a child, let alone herself. She had to be put into a mental hospital and I was put into an orphanage. When she got out of the mental hospital some time later, she moved into an assisted living institution. They let me see her from time to time and things were going better with her. And then, when I was eleven, she passed away.” Siyeon wasn’t sure whether Yoohyeon was listening because of how quiet she was, but she couldn’t stop talking now. “I felt so alone in this world until I met Minji. She caught me crying one night and was just like ‘You’re my sister now’. And she stuck to that.”  
Yoohyeon’s fingers suddenly found Siyeon’s under the blanket. “I’m so sorry. I’m very glad that you met Minji, though.”  
Siyeon was more than glad. She would forever be thankful for it. Telling her story made her realize even more how much she missed her sister and how much it hurt to be the reason for the distance between them. “I’m sorry for telling you tonight.” Yoohyeon had her own shit to worry about and Siyeon just dumped her complete life story on her.   
“Don’t apologize for that! I have to thank you for telling me.”  
They were holding hands now and it warmed up Siyeon’s heart. She hoped it was as comforting for Yoohyeon as it was for her.   
“I really do hope that your parents come around and realize that there is nothing wrong with being gay. But if not, you will understand someday that you don’t need your parents to live a happy and fulfilling life. You can choose your own family.” Siyeon firmly believed in that.   
Yoohyeon squeezed her hand. “Thank you for everything today.”  
“Sleep well.” Siyeon’s heart melted away when she turned to her side to look at the other girl that was already half asleep. It took her a bit longer to calm down and fall asleep.   
They were still holding hands when they woke up the next morning.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: homophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter feels like a mess... hope you enjoy it anyway!!!

“I have decided on the songs for the concert, “ the teacher announced during their next vocal group meeting. Yoohyeon exchanged an excited look with Gahyeon next to her. They both were hoping to get to sing a duet together because singing on stage with her best friend would be the best thing. And they knew that their voices sounded good together.   
“First of all, as a whole group, you will sing ‘To the DJ’ by Yoon Si Nae, one of my personal favorite songs.” He looked at them as if he was expecting some sort of reaction, but the whole vocal group was just staring blankly at him. “This is the song that will have an actual choreo and it will be the only one that does. I’m very excited for this and we will start working on it and distributing the parts very soon. That song will be the grand finale of the concert, so it has to be perfect and special. We’re starting off our stage time with ‘There’s nothing holdin’ me back’ by Shawn Mendes, again, the whole group.”  
Yoohyeon could definitely work with both of these songs, even though she was surprised about it. She had never expected them to go with a modern English pop song. They really were changing things up this year.   
“Next up will be Handong with her solo.” The teacher nodded at the Chinese girl. “Followed by a duet. ‘Really really’ by WINNER. Sung by Siyeon and Yoohyeon.”  
This was the first time the teacher got an actual reaction by the girls. Gahyeon gasped and clapped her hands, giving Yoohyeon and Siyeon an excited smile. “You’re so lucky!”  
“Here we go again, “ Siyeon whispered. “Another duet.”  
“At least no choreo, “ Yoohyeon said. They were sharing an apartment now, singing a duet together was nothing. It didn’t bother her at all, unlike the last duet had. Maybe, if she was completely honest, she even liked the idea of singing a duet with Siyeon. Her voice was just so beautiful.   
The teacher coughed. “Is there a problem, ladies?”  
“All good, “ Siyeon said. “It’s fine. You can continue.”  
Lee Siyeon was one of the only students who could get away with saying that to a teacher. He just did what she had said. “Last but not least, you’re going to sing ‘Only one for me’ by BTOB. I assigned this to Handong, Yoohyeon and Gahyeon.”  
The three of them looked at each other, grinning widely. It was perfect. She got to sing a song with her best friend and Handong. And she was part of four songs, even more than Siyeon.   
“That’s it? We get four songs?” Siyeon asked.   
“Four songs plus a solo, “ the teacher said. “That’s plenty. The choir only gets three songs in total. Any other complaints? If not, let’s start with ‘To the DJ’.”

“I’m so excited that we get to sing a song with just us two and Handong! But… isn’t there a rap part in ‘Only one for me’?” Gahyeon and Yoohyeon were walking towards the apartment, Siyeon a few steps behind. She had been awfully quiet since the morning, something about the song distribution must have pissed her off somehow. In contrary, Gahyeon was even more talkative than usual and very excited about all of it.   
“Yeah, I guess. But I think Handong can’t rap, especially not in Korean, and I sure as fuck won’t. So you’ll have to do it.”  
“I can’t rap!” Gahyeon looked at her with a shock filled expression.   
“Your rap skills are pretty decent, babe, don’t worry. Maybe he’ll cut the rap, I don’t know.” Yoohyeon shrugged a bit. “We will see.”  
Gahyeon nodded. “You’re right. He can’t force us to rap, right? By the way, it’s so cool that you two get to sing a duet. It’s kind of sad that you’re just fake dating… “  
“True, “ Siyeon agreed, catching up to them. “It would be iconic if we were an actual couple.”  
“Singing a duet with a real girlfriend I’m actually in love with… “ Yoohyeon sighed. “I want that.”   
Siyeon frowned and fell back again. Her behavior was definitely strange. Maybe she was pissed because she was only assigned as part of three songs? Or was something else bothering her?   
“At least you get to share the stage with the most talented singer of our school. I’d kill for that, “ Gahyeon said. “Have I mentioned how happy I am that we are going to perform Shawn Mendes, BTOB and WINNER? It was so surprising but I’m excited!”  
“Me too. The songs are all pretty okay and definitely not what I thought…” Yoohyeon stopped talking when she saw Yoobin standing in front of their apartment building.   
“What is she doing here?” Gahyeon asked. “Should I tell her to leave?”  
“Should I kick her ass and tell her to get the fuck out of your life?” Siyeon offered from behind.   
“It’s fine. I wanna talk to her myself. Give her a chance to explain what happened.” A wave of anxiety washed over Yoohyeon, but she knew that she couldn’t avoid the conversation with Yoobin and the sooner, the better. So she slowly walked over to her. “Let’s take a walk, “ she greeted her.   
There was no real reaction from Yoobin, she just stared at Yoohyeon. But when Yoohyeon started walking, she followed.   
“Are you okay?” Yoobin finally broke the awkward silence.   
Yoohyeon ignored the question and got straight to it. “Why did you tell my parents?”   
“I’m sorry. I fucked up. There is no excuse, but I’m really, truly sorry for what happened.”   
“And what exactly did happen? How did you fuck up?”  
“My mother was on the phone when she suddenly asked me who else is in that vocal group beside you… and I said ‘Her girlfriend’. I wasn’t thinking and I didn’t know she was talking to your mother, but I should have known. Well, of course she asked who you’re dating and I answered… I didn’t even realize what I did wrong until my mother talked to me about your parents and you earlier. I’m so sorry. I should have been more careful.”  
Yoohyeon was relieved to hear that story. She could forgive slip-ups like that, something like that could have just as easily happened to her. Yoobin really did seem to feel guilty about it and with the drama going on with her parents, she didn’t have the energy to be mad at one of her closest friends. “It’s okay.”  
“It’s not. What did they say to you? My mother was so upset after talking to them today. Are they really not talking to you at all right now?.”  
“She talked to them today? What else did she say?”  
Yoobin shrugged. “My mother ended the conversation pretty quickly, avoiding conflict, as always. But my father called your parents again when he found out what had happened. Apparently, they can’t agree on how to handle the situation. Your father wants to kick you out of the family completely. And, maybe even worse, your mother thinks that it’s best to have you move to the countryside to them. Apparently, she has already found someone there who could ‘help’ you. My father, you know how he is, gave them a speech on how homosexuality is just a rebellious phase and that their rejection was only encouragement for you… He brought me up as an example, actually. He told her that I came out as well a year ago and how he gave me shit for it in the beginning, you know what happened, but then we both stopped talking about it, and, apparently, now that he has stopped fighting it, lesbianism lost its appeal to me and I’m straight now, which is news to me, but okay.”  
“Wait. Your father thinks you’re straight again?” Yoohyeon hadn’t known that before. When Yoobin’s father had stopped trying to tell her how wrong homosexuality was and threatening to kick her out, they both had thought he had come to terms with it. Her mother had never expressed anything but support towards her daughter, but she also never actively did something against her husband’s homophobia.   
“I think it’s because of the poster in my room. If I admire a rapper for his skills and music, I must be straight.” Yoobin laughed bitterly. “I mean my mother always says she loves me no matter what… I just wish she would show it and stand up for me, just once. Just once tell my father that her daughter is actually gay and that it’s okay. But back to your parents. What did they say to you?”  
Yoohyeon repeated the whole conversation they had had. Talking about it still hurt, but she tried not to let it affect her.  
Yoobin listened to her while holding her hand to comfort her. “I’m so sorry. If you need any help from me, money or anything, just tell me, I’m here for you.”  
“Thank you, I appreciate it. I’m gonna go look for a job this weekend, so that I don’t have to completely depend on other people.” She wasn’t sure whether she would be able to find a decent job that would pay a student enough money to cover her living expenses, but Siyeon was doing it, so she had hope that she could do it as well.   
“I can help you with that, if you want, “ Yoobin offered, but Yoohyeon immediately refused.   
“It’s okay.” She wanted to do this on her own. She felt like she needed to do this on her own.

When she came back to the apartment, she walked in on an unexpected view. Gahyeon was lying on the floor in the middle of the room sounding like she was actually dying because of her laughter. Siyeon was sitting at the living room table, laughing just as much as the younger girl. When they noticed that Yoohyeon had returned, they both did their best to calm down as quickly as possible.   
“Sorry, “ Siyeon said, returning to her usual straight face. “How did it go? What did she say?”  
“Yeah… sorry, “ Gahyeon agreed, still out of breath. “Should I… kill her?  
“It was an accident.”  
“Accident? Really?” Siyeon didn’t seem convinced by that. “You just forgave her?”  
“She apologized. I think she really regrets her mistake and there is no real point in not forgiving her, is there? I can’t stand being mad at one of my closest friends for one, especially for something stupid like that.”  
“Outing you to your parents is not ‘something stupid’, “ Gahyeon said. “But if you wanna forgive her, it’s up to you.”  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “Things like this happen. She sincerely apologized and I think that’s enough.”   
“So what exactly did happen? Did she just forget about the fact that you’re still in the closet or did she assume they already knew…?” Siyeon asked.   
“She didn’t tell my parents directly. She told her mother and her mother told my parents, “ Yoohyeon explained.   
Gahyeon’s expression softened immediately. “I get it now. I accidentally outed myself to my mother… I get that sometimes, you are so close and open with someone that you might just forget to keep a secret.”  
Siyeon gave Gahyeon an irritated look. “Did you really accidentally out yourself to your own mother?”  
“We’re really close and open with each other, “ Gahyeon explained. “I wasn’t used to keep things from her and then I made a joke about my sexuality…”  
“No secrets at all? I can’t imagine that you don’t hide anything from your parents.”  
Gahyeon shrugged. “Of course I do. But I talk to her like I would talk to my friends. You don’t wanna know how many times I have accidentally outed myself to friends.” She really was the worst at staying in the closet. Yoohyeon had never really understood that. There had always been this constant fear inside of her that made it easy to hide her sexuality.   
“I still don’t get it, “ Siyeon said. “I wouldn’t forgive Yoobin.”  
“You don’t have to. I do.” Yoohyeon was exhausted. She only wanted to be alone right now and Siyeon saying things like that wasn’t making that better.  “I’m sorry… but I need some time for myself. Bye.” She didn’t even wait for a response, she just fled into her bedroom.   
The first tears started falling down her cheeks before she had even properly closed the door. Up to her conversation with Yoobin, some part of her had actually believed that her parents would come around eventually, and that very soon. But hearing that her father didn’t want her in the family anymore and that her mother believed that she had to be cured… it made her realize that that wouldn’t happen. If her parents and Yoobin’s father had one thing in common, it was stubbornness in their own opinions. Her mother would never stop thinking about homosexuality as some sort of problem that had to be solved. She had seen her father cut people out of his life. He did it quickly and efficiently without ever showing any emotions about it. One day to another, the person just wasn’t a part of his life anymore, as if he erased them from his memory. He had done it to his mother and his sister. And now, apparently, he was doing it to his own daughter. She really did just lose the two people who had cared for her her whole life.   
She was on her own now.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... literally don't know what I am doing with this fic rn... but hope yall enjoy the update!!!

“Shit! Why isn’t this working? Play my music, you fucking asshole of a speaker. Don’t you dare destroy my show, bitch.”  
The first dance practice started out as the complete and utter mess Siyeon had expected it to. Bora, unable to contain her extraness, had of course planned a dramatic entrance, but hiding behind the bleachers wasn’t that effective when you were cursing the speaker you wanted to use to play music. The five students plus Handong could already hear her right after entering the room.   
Yoohyeon destroyed Bora’s plans even more when she loudly screamed her name and ran towards her direction. Bora left her hiding spot looking kind of embarrassed, but mostly amused by herself. “Daughter! I missed you, but you just crossed all my plans. I had this whole choreo planned to impress you all with my skills.”  
Yoohyeon and Gahyeon lost it and started laughing. Handong was looking at Yoohyeon with undeniable heart eyes. The other two girls just stared at Bora with shock.   
And Siyeon was more than ready to kill every single person in the room except for Yoohyeon because her laugh was beautiful and it warmed Siyeon’s heart. She hadn’t heard her laughing that much in a while.   
After everyone had calmed down, Bora properly greeted them. “Welcome to our first dance practice! I’m Kim Bora, your choreographer and dance teacher. I used to go to this school and I’m so excited to be back to work with you on this performance.”  
Handong leaned over to Siyeon to whisper into her ear. “Who is she? How does Yoohyeon know her?”  
“She’s my sister’s girlfriend, “ Siyeon said.   
Handong looked even more confused than before. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”  
“Bora is my sister’s girlfriend. Yoohyeon met her because of that.”  
That didn’t seem to clear things up for Handong.  
“You’ll be dancing to ‘To the DJ’, as you know, and I’ve already fully choreographed the song and I gotta say, this is gonna be good. I’m very proud of myself. And I want to talk about some other performances with you. The duet, for example.” Bora’s eyes landed on Siyeon, a wide grin on her face. She was definitely up to something bad. “You can’t just stand around for that song.”  
That wasn’t good at all. It was obvious that Bora was only doing that because it was Siyeon and Yoohyeon performing it. She would make them do something very romantic or something. It would be awkward and it would mess with Siyeon’s feelings and it was just all in all a bad idea. “I can’t sing and dance at the same time, “ Siyeon lied in an awful attempt to get out of it. “I’ll struggle enough with one song.”  
“I know that you can sing and dance at the same time, don’t lie to me.” Bora winked at Siyeon. “Trust me, you’ll like my ideas for the song.”  
She was very sure that she wouldn’t.   
Yoohyeon took her hand. “It’ll be fun, babe!” She was smiling widely and putting on an all lovey-dovey show. “You get to do something cute on stage – with your girlfriend.”  
Handong looked between the two of them. “You’re dating?”   
“Yeah!” Yoohyeon loudly announced and gave Siyeon a look that made her heart flutter. If only it was real.   
Bora coughed to return their attention back to her, but there was that certain smile on her face. “Siyeon, Yoohyeon, we can talk about this later. Now, let’s get started.”

The dance practice went by faster than expected. Of course Bora’s choreo was absolutely gorgeous. They had only practiced a few basic steps that were important for the choreo, but Siyeon could already tell how good it was. They weren’t too hard for a bunch of unexperienced students and still looked amazing, so that really showed how talented Bora was as a choreographer.    
After they ended their practice, Bora held back Yoohyeon and Siyeon.   
“You did well today, “ Bora told Yoohyeon. “You’re a good singer and dancer.”  
“Thanks. Your choreo is even better than what I had expected.”  
“Ah, thank you.” The smaller girl turned to Siyeon with a frown on her face. “Why don’t you wanna dance with your girlfriend?”  
“It’s kind of weird, on stage with everyone watching… including teachers, “ Siyeon tried to talk her way out of it. She really did think that it would be weird even if they were actually dating.   
“I won’t let you do anything strange, “ Bora assured her. “And of course nothing you’re uncomfortable with. I really don’t have much in mind except of a few choreographed movements here and there.”  
“I’m fine with it, “ Yoohyeon announced. “It’ll probably make the performance more interesting to watch. And it’s gonna be fun!”  
If Yoohyeon said it was going to be fun… Siyeon didn’t have an actual choice. She gave in. “Don’t overdo it, “ she warned Bora with a sigh.   
“I won’t, I promise.” Her grin definitely said otherwise. “We’ll start practicing in two weeks, right after the normal dance practice, okay? Next week, the dance practice will be intense, so I think it’s best if we do it the week after.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I’ll go change now. I have an interview today.”  
Siyeon hadn’t known about that, but before she had the chance to ask, Yoohyeon had already left. Suddenly, there were only Siyeon, Bora and a lot of awkwardness left.   
“I want to propose to Minji, “ Bora announced out of nowhere.   
That hit Siyeon completely unprepared. The two of them hadn’t been dating for that long and, that put aside, Siyeon would have put money on Minji being the one to propose. “What?”  
“I want to marry her. I know it’s early and that we are still young, but I love her with all my heart and I just know that she is the one for me. I think you can understand. You don’t seem to be taking it slowly with Yoohyeon as well.” Bora was looking straight into Siyeon’s eyes. “I wanted to talk to you before doing it.”  
What was there to talk about? She couldn’t deny that she was a bit jealous and that hearing this hurt, but Bora didn’t know about that. “It’s not like you need my permission or anything.”  
“I know. But I want to know what you’re thinking. You’re important to me and very important to Minji.”   
“If you’re both happy, I’m happy, “ Siyeon said. “Go for it, if you feel like it’s the right thing. But… what about that time you sat in front of my apartment crying? Didn’t you think she wanted to break up back then?”  
“She’s been a bit weird and distant since you’ve moved out. Back then, I was paranoid that it could be about me, but we had an honest conversation and things are good now. She just misses you. And… I don’t want to pressure you into talking to her, but please do. I can’t ask her to marry me if this issue between you two isn’t resolved.”  
She wasn’t ready. She was too ashamed of her feelings and how she had handled things. “I don’t know if I can.”  
“Just tell her that you’re living together with Yoohyeon! It won’t be a problem at all. I think Minji just wants her sister…” Bora suddenly stopped, then she frowned at Siyeon. “Unless this is not about you living together with Yoohyeon.”  
Siyeon avoided her eyes and stared at the floor.   
“Talk to me. What is going on? Why did you move out? Why are you avoiding your sister?” Bora seemed really upset. “Aren’t you exhausted of keeping it all in? I assumed Minji was just acting strange because she didn’t know what was going on, just like me before I found out on accident. Just that… she gets really weird whenever I mention you. Like really weird. And she doesn’t really wanna talk about it… Did something happen between the two of you?”  
“We’ll … we’ll figure it out on our own.”  
Bora nodded. “I knew you would say something like that. Minji did, too.” She couldn’t hide the disappointment on her face. “Whatever it is, it won’t just disappear if you two don’t talk about it.”  
Siyeon knew that very well. “I just need a bit more time.”  
“Think about what I said, okay?” Bora put a hand on her shoulder. “And talk to me if you need someone.”  
She nodded. “Thank you.” Siyeon waved her goodbye before escaping the gym.   
Gahyeon was waiting for her outside, wearing her street clothes again. “Can I hang out at the apartment? I wanna be there when Yoohyeon comes back from her interview.”  
Siyeon didn’t really mind her company. They did have a lot of fun when they were alone last Wednesday. “Sure. I just have to change real quickly.”

“What kind of interview is it, anyway? Yoohyeon didn’t tell me about it, “ Siyeon said on their way to the apartment.   
“She didn’t tell me any details either, but apparently, she found a photographer who’s looking for an assistant, “ Gahyeon said. “She’s been kind of distant this past week.”  
Siyeon had noticed that as well. She had barely talked to Yoohyeon at all. Yoohyeon did seem fine when she saw her, though, but she was clearly not over the thing with her parents. It worried Siyeon a bit that she wasn’t really talking to Gahyeon either. “Do you think she’s okay?”  
“I don’t know. I think she is trying to keep herself busy or something. Did you know that she has already memorized all of the lyrics of the concert songs? Besides ‘To the DJ’, we didn’t even distribute the parts yet. She just learned the whole songs and is practicing them already.”  
“Really? I didn’t hear her practicing.” Siyeon was mostly listening to music when she was at home, so even if Yoohyeon actually would practice while she was at home, she probably wouldn’t hear her. “Should we talk to her about it?”  
“I tried. She told me she was fine and just nervous about failing.” Gahyeon was shaking her head a bit. “I’m really worried. Please keep an eye on her. Make sure she takes time to relax and eat.”  
Siyeon nodded. “I will. Maybe I’ll try talking to her, too.”  
“Please do. Maybe she’ll listen to you.” They walked in silence for a bit, until Gahyeon completely changed the topic. “Handong obviously has a crush on Yoohyeon.”  
She thought so as well. Her reaction to hearing that Yoohyeon and Siyeon were a couple was  pretty clearly jealousy. And, for some reason, that made Siyeon feel jealous. “She does.”  
“Yoohyeon hasn’t said anything about it… but what if she likes Handong as well? You’d have to fake-break up.”  
Siyeon thought about how happy Yoohyeon seemed whenever she was talking to Handong. The way she had gotten upset when Siyeon had made a comment about giving the solo to Handong. How she was always smiling when she was talking about Handong. “I think it’s possible that Yoohyeon is interested in Handong, “ Siyeon said, trying to contain the bitterness inside of her.   
“Me too… She seems to like her a lot. You should talk to her about that as well. Nothing against your fake relationship, but I want Yoohyeon to be happy and if you’re fake-dating is standing in her way to a happy, real relationship, then I can’t support it anymore.   
Siyeon wanted nothing more than for Yoohyeon to be happy, but she wanted the fake relationship to be the way to the real, happy relationship. That just didn’t seem very likely or possible. “I think she knows that she can end this lie whenever she wants to.” She really didn’t want to have a conversation with her crush telling her how okay it would be for her to get together with another girl. She didn’t need to make herself suffer more than unavoidable.   
“I do think she feels some sort of responsibility towards you. Just tell her that it’s okay, “ Gahyeon insisted. “I’ll talk to her about it as well. But don’t mention Handong, maybe.”  
“I’ll bring it up, “ Siyeon said. She’d have to build a thick guard around her heart before that, but she would manage to survive that conversation. Hopefully.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: homophobia // panic attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long update and intense one I guess?? i swear we're getting back to the cute romance stuff very soon!!! btw I am very sorry if I got anything wrong about the panic attack thing, I have very limited experience with panic attacks, please tell me if I did something wrong!!!

“It’ll be my pleasure to work with you, “ the photographer announced. She was a middle-aged woman, probably somewhere in her 40s, and she mainly worked as a portrait photographer, as Yoohyeon had already found out when she had looked her up on the internet earlier. Her work seemed pretty decent and she seemed to be quite popular. “Are you free this Friday afternoon? I’m booked for a shoot and if you’d like, you can start working right away.”  
Yoohyeon was more than happy to do so. She still couldn’t really believe that she actually got the job. It was a dream come true, making money of her passion in photography. When she had seen the ad on the internet, she didn’t think she stood any chance, but she tried and here she was. Maybe luck was on her side, finally. “Of course! I’d love to come with you.”  
 “It’s for a magazine. The shoot will actually start in the morning, but it’s scheduled for the whole day, so just come and join after school. You won’t be doing much this Friday, but it’s a big shoot and I think it would be a valuable experience for you. I don’t get shoots like this very often, so I don’t want you to miss out on what that part of the job is like.”  
Yoohyeon already loved her new boss. She was very kind and understanding when it came to Yoohyeon’s position as a student. During the interview, she had emphasized that she wanted this to be valuable for Yoohyeon many times. She wanted her to learn as much as possible during her time as assistant. Really, everything about this job was perfect. “Thank you so much for giving me a chance. I’m looking forward to the shoot.”  
“Give your phone number and I’ll just text you the address! I probably won’t have much time to talk to you during the shoot, but as I said, this is just for you to get a first look into my work, I don’t really expect anything from you.”  
After the successful interview, Yoohyeon was glad and she felt the lightest that she had felt in the past two weeks. She had a job now and was able to financially support herself, at least a bit. Of course a part-time assistant position didn’t pay much, it wasn’t enough to cover the rent, but it was a start. There was enough time to worry about where to get the rest of the money she needed on another day.  
When she returned to the apartment, Gahyeon and Siyeon were both waiting for her. They were lying on the couch watching a movie together, but they paused it immediately when she entered the apartment. For some reason, all her energy and happiness left here when she saw the two of them.  
“How did it go?” Gahyeon asked.  
“I got the job. I can start this Friday.”  
Gahyeon jumped up and hugged her excitedly. “That’s so amazing! How’s the photographer?”  
“Really nice. I like her a lot.”  
“What kind of photographer is she anyway?” Siyeon wanted to know. “You didn’t tell me about the interview.”  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “Freelance. She does this and that.”  
Siyeon and Gahyeon shared a meaningful look. Yoohyeon had no idea what that was about. Then Gahyeon gave Siyeon a slight nod. “You know that you can end our fake relationship at any time, right? If, for example, you have feelings for someone else or something like that.”  
Gahyeon next to her frowned.  
What was that about? “Yeah, I know. Same goes for you, of course.” Was Siyeon trying to hint at something? “Or… do you wanna end this? Do you have feelings for someone?”  
“What? Me? Nope… no feelings… none at all.” Siyeon shook her head a bit too hard. “I just…” She looked at Gahyeon, probably looking for help.  
“She just wanted you to know that your happiness is more important than any fake relationship, right?”  
Yoohyeon was still confused. There was obviously something else going on. “Okay…? I have some school stuff to do now, so if you don’t mind…” She walked up the stairs.  
“Wait!” Gahyeon said, but Yoohyeon just ignored it and disappeared into her room. She didn’t know what was wrong with her lately or why she felt like she had to avoid the people closest to her, but … she just needed time on her own. She had to become an independent woman that could deal with her own problems, right? That was part of growing up. She couldn’t always go running to Gahyeon when she felt a tiny bit bad or anything like that. Even though she was feeling like a piece of shit right now, she had to suck it up. If she could just keep herself busy, things would turn out fine eventually.  
On Thursday evening, things got even worse when suddenly her phone rang. Yoohyeon expected it to be her new boss so she just picked up, only to be greeted by the all too familiar voice of her mother. “Hello, Yoohyeon.”  
She couldn’t answer. She just couldn’t.  
“Your father and I have made a decision. You’re coming back home here and you’ll meet with a therapist. I’ve already found you one, he is nice and seems quite competent. You’re not his first case like that. I had to compromise with your father, so there is a twist. If you’re not better after three months of therapy, we will have to look for another solution, okay? I am optimistic that you will be better after three months, so don’t worry about that stupid deadline. Just pack your things. I booked you a ticket for this Saturday, your room here is ready, it’s all set.”  
Every word felt like a stab straight into Yoohyeon’s heart, all over again. Tears were falling down her face, but she still didn’t manage to say a word.  
“I know this is hard, but it’s the right thing. I’ll text you the details of the train. Or do you want me to come to you to help you pack?”  
“No, “ Yoohyeon managed to get out quietly. “No.” She meant all of it, moving to the countryside, seeing a therapist, “getting better”, but she was crying too hard to say anything else. And maybe, maybe, a part of her was too scared to say it.  
“Good. I love you, my dear, we will get past this as a family. I’ll see you on Saturday.” Her mother hung up, just like that.  
Yoohyeon had thought that it was over. She really had thought her parents would completely give up on her. This was worse. This was way worse. And for some fucked up reason, she couldn’t get over herself and stop this madness. She just sat over her phone and cried for what felt like hours.

The next morning, she was basically dead. She wasn’t sure whether she had actually slept the night before. She couldn’t really remember anything after the phone call with her mother. Nevertheless, she somehow got out of bed when her alarm rang and managed to get dressed. She skipped breakfast, went straight to school and ignored all the text messages that Gahyeon and Siyeon sent her throughout the day. She skipped music class to avoid seeing them both, something she had never done before. Then she decided to just skip the rest of the day and go straight to the shoot. Not because she wanted to go, but because she should tell her boss that she had to look for a new assistant.  
Her phone led her to the location of the shoot, an old building with a big garden. She could hear the noises from the shoot coming from behind the house, but she still entered through the opened front door. People were walking around everywhere, carrying around requisites and whatever else. Nobody cared about the young girl that had just walked in. Yoohyeon immediately felt lost. She took a deep breath and started to work her way through the house, when suddenly, someone yelled her name and grabbed her arm. “Kim Yoohyeon? What are you doing here?” Kim Minji was standing right in front of her, carrying around a few water bottles in her arm.  
“I’m here to quit my new job. What about you?” Yoohyeon hadn’t expected to meet someone she knew at all, nonetheless Kim Minji.  
“I work for the magazine’s fashion department. As assistant, so I mostly get to carry around things, but I still love it.” Minji laughed. “What job are you quitting? And why?”  
“Photography assistant.”  
“You work with that nice photographer? That’s so cool! But… why are you quitting? And why come here to do so?” Minji seemed really confused, for understandable reasons.  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “I didn’t wanna do it over the phone.” Or maybe she actually didn’t want to quit.  
Minji frowned at her. “You don’t look good. Are you all right? Take this.” She pushed one of the bottles into her hand.  
“I’m okay, “ Yoohyeon assured her and gave the water back. “Don’t let me interfere with your work.”  
“I’ll be done here soon, I’m only waiting for my coworker to arrive.” Minji looked genuinely worried about her. “Sit down, drink something. I’ll be back as soon as my shift is over.”  
Yoohyeon could barely process what was happening when she was suddenly sitting on the floor, the water bottle in her hand again, all alone. She rested her head against the wall and took a big sip of the water. Her phone was still blowing up with messages and calls from Gahyeon and Siyeon, but whenever she looked at her texts, she also saw the ones by her mother, telling her about the train and how much she was looking forward to seeing her again. Yoohyeon turned her phone off and closed her eyes. What was she supposed to do? She only had to send one text to her mother, but for some reason, she couldn’t even do that.  
Minji was right, she was definitely not feeling too well. Her whole body was aching, she couldn’t remember the last time she had drunk something and breathing was hard, for some reason. Her heart was racing and her hands were sweaty, and for a moment, just a moment, she thought she might be having a heart attack. That maybe, her heart had been broken so much that it was dying now.  
Thankfully, Minji was back earlier than expected. Or maybe time had passed by faster than Yoohyeon had thought. Out of nowhere, the older girl was kneeling in front of her. “Yoohyeon? Come, breathe with me. Slowly in, slowly out. Match my rhythm. Shit, I don’t know what I’m doing. Breathe in. Hold it. Now breathe it.”  
Yoohyeon tried to do as she said, but then she realized that she couldn’t even breathe on her own and it got even worse. Her chest hurt so much.  
“Everything is okay. You’re safe. I am here with you. Just breathe. Are you having a panic attack? I think this is a panic attack.” Minji was still rambling on in front of her. “Shit, Yoohyeon. Maybe this isn’t a panic attack. Are you like… having a heart attack or something? You’re way too young to have a heart attack… I’m not helping, am I?”  
Another person joined them and talked to Minji quietly. Yoohyeon didn’t know who it was, but before she could figure it out, Minji was looking at her again. “Okay. Let’s breathe together. You’re safe, okay? I am with you.”  
It took several minutes till she finally calmed down a bit. She was breathing properly again and her heart was still beating too fast, but not as abnormally as earlier. Yoohyeon felt like she had just met a Dementor who had sucked out her whole soul.  
Minji took Yoohyeon’s hands and got up with her. “Come on, I’m taking you home. Where do you live?”  
“Siyeon’s.”  
“Okay, I can take you there if you want to.” Minji put an arm around Yoohyeon’s shoulders. “Let’s go. You can quit on another day.”  
“What about your job?” Yoohyeon asked after they had left the house and were walking down the road.  
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.” Minji led her to a car parked on the side and opened the passenger door for her. “You’re my sister’s girlfriend and my girlfriend’s daughter, so I’m legally obliged to take care of you as part of my family.”  
Siyeon, Bora and now Minji as well- all of them were talking about family so casually, as if it was so easy, and not a complicated piece of shit.  
“Do you wanna talk about what’s going on?” Minji asked her when they were both sitting in the car. “Clearly, something is up. I mean, you just had a panic attack. Has that ever happened before?”  
She shook her head. “I fucked up. I really, really fucked up.”  
“What happened?” Minji put a hand on her shoulder.  
Yoohyeon just started crying.

Half an hour later, the two of them were still sitting in the car, not having moved a bit. After crying her heart out, Yoohyeon had told Minji everything that had happened, starting from her first conversation with her mother to the one the day before. She told her about how she was avoiding her friends right now. “I feel so pathetic because I can’t handle anything on my own. Look at me, I’m a mess. I completely break down. I did it today, I did it after the first phone call with my mother. I just… I don’t know what to do. I want to be independent, but I can’t even tell my mother ‘No’ and instead I end up … like this.“ she ended.  
Minji had listened to all of it without a word, only gently wiping away her tears every now and then. “You don’t have to handle things on your own to be independent. You don’t have to deal with things like this alone. And it’s not pathetic at all that you get emotional over something like that. It’s not pathetic to have a panic attack. You are not pathetic at all. But, first things first, we have to handle that situation with your mother.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I know.”  
“Good. Give me your phone, “ Minji demanded and held out her hand.  
“Why? What are you going to do?”  
“Solve that problem with your mother, “ she said. “We humans weren’t made to do everything on our own. Sometimes we need help. I’ll handle this for you.”  
Yoohyeon wasn’t completely convinced, but Minji seemed determined, so she turned on her phone again and gave it to her.  
The older girl took it and read through the messages her mother had sent. And then she called her. Yoohyeon was glad that she didn’t have to do this, even though she felt slightly bad for not doing it herself.  
“Hello? I’m speaking to Yoohyeon’s mother, right?.... I’m Kim Minji, I’m a friend of your daughter… Yoohyeon won’t be coming to you tomorrow.” Minji was talking calmly, but there was something firm about the way she said it. “No, she doesn’t need professional help. There is nothing wrong with being gay… no, she’s not going to see a therapist and I don’t think I’m overstepping any boundaries here. The way you’re treating your daughter… She is not coming. That’s final. She’s staying here… Yeah, she can take care of herself. We’re helping her out as well. She doesn’t need your money…” There was a long pause, significantly longer than the ones before. The longer it went on, the angrier the expression on Minji’s face got. “Yeah, okay, let’s take this to the court. But do you really think you stand a chance? Your daughter is not coming to you tomorrow. Or on any other day.” She hung up and took several deep breaths. “Was that okay?” she asked Yoohyeon.  
She nodded. It had been more than okay. “She wants to sue you?”  
Minji waved it off. “She won’t pull through with it. And if she does, we will fight her. You’re not going anywhere.”  
Yoohyeon felt like she could finally breathe freely again. “I’m sorry. I should have done that myself.”  
“Don’t apologize. Sometimes, you need other people to help you. That’s okay. That’s completely normal.” Minji took her hand. “I’m glad that we met today. I know we don’t really know each other, but you can always come to me if you need anything.”  
“Thank you. Both you and Bora have been so kind to me… thank you.”  
“You’re welcome, Yoohyeon. But… I do have one question.” Minji turned around Yoohyeon’s phone that she was still holding. Her chat with Siyeon was opened.  “This is Siyeon, right?”

 _Fake it love [10:05 am]: Where r u???_  
_Fake it love [10:14 am]: Is everything all right?_  
 _Fake it love [10:15 am]: I heard you crying through the walls last night_  
 _Fake it love [11:35 am]: did you go home? Please text me I’m worried_  
 _Fake it love [12:14 pm]: I’m coming home_

Yoohyeon couldn’t say anything for a moment. How was she supposed to explain that? The username, the messages about “home” and hearing her cry through the walls… “How did you know? And why are you reading my messages?”  
“I’m sorry… I saw all the messages and missed calls and I recognized Siyeon’s profile picture and I only wanted to tell her not to worry… But… I don’t really understand this.”  
“I stayed over at Siyeon’s last night and when I left for school this morning, I left some stuff there, “ Yoohyeon improvised. “She probably thought I would go back to pick that up after school. And the name… that’s just a joke between me and her.”  
Minji turned around the phone again. “I didn’t even think about the name, but now that you mention it… “ She looked even more confused than before Yoohyeon’s bullshit explanation. “Tell me the truth, please. Are you playing tricks on Siyeon? Are you just acting like you’re in love with her? I don’t know what you get out of pretending that, but it’s just fucked up to be playing with someone else’s feelings. She genuinely likes you and you… you are lying to her?”  
That was not what Yoohyeon had expected. “I- I’m sorry?”  
“I can’t believe this.” Minji threw the phone onto Yoohyeon’s lap. “I can’t believe you’re actually walking all over my sister like she is some piece of shit.” She paused for a moment. “Wait. And you two are living together, aren’t you? When I asked you where you lived and you said Siyeon’s… that really was your answer to that. That’s why Bora said I shouldn’t go to the apartment anymore.”  
“It’s not what you think…” Yoohyeon started.  
“Shit. I can’t let you lie to her any longer… I know you just had a panic attack and that I shouldn’t do this with you right now… and I wish I had the patience to tell you to do it it yourself, but I don’t. I can’t keep this from my sister, ” Minji started the car. “We’re going there right now to clear this up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!! hope you enjoyed the new chapter... and who knows... you might not have to wait long for the next one...


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND THIS SURPRISE UPDATE IS BC OF U and I know that you are not caught up with the fic and this is not like my way of telling u to go read it (you seriously dont have to if you dont want to) but I was desperately looking for another way & this is the best I came up with... (Und wir erinnern uns an meinem ersten Geburtstag, an dem wir befreundet waren, wo du eine Lesenacht für mich veranstaltet hast... Ich klau so viel von dir dieses Jahr ups...) Have I ever told you that I always think about you when I write about friendships? I love you so much, with all my heart. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yoohyeon wasn’t at home, she wasn’t at school, at Yoobin’s, Gahyeon’s or any other place Siyeon could think of. She didn’t respond to her calls or reply to her messages. The only thing Siyeon could do was wait on the couch and continuing to call her and text with Gahyeon, who was looking for her all over the city. She had been home for over an hour when suddenly, the door was opened and Yoohyeon came in. Just that she wasn’t alone. She was accompanied by Kim Minji, who had a determined look on her face.   
Minji and Siyeon stared at each other for a moment. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Why… why are you letting her in?”  
Yoohyeon avoided Siyeon’s eyes and looked at the floor instead. “She found out. I’m sorry. I’m really, truly sorry.”  
Minji stepped a bit closer to Siyeon. “We’ll talk about you two living together later. First, there is something I think Yoohyeon should tell you.” She gave the younger one an expectant nod.   
“I… I don’t have feelings for you, Siyeon. I’m sorry, “ Yoohyeon said and for a moment, Siyeon’s heart stopped. She had found out about her crush and was turning her down now, wasn’t she? “I’m sorry for lying to you. I only said I was in love with you because of this apartment… I should never have done that.”  
It took her a moment to fully grasp what was going on. Yoohyeon was talking about their fake relationship, right? But why was she saying that she had lied to her? What had she told Minji?   
“I just found out. I thought you deserved to know the truth… I’m so sorry that you had to find out like this, “ her sister said with a sad smile.   
“How … how did you find out?” she asked carefully.  
“I had Yoohyeon’s phone for a moment… and I noticed that she had you saved under ‘fake it love’.”  
Siyeon had no clue why Minji would have Yoohyeon’s phone, but that wasn’t that important right now. She remembered Bora constantly pestering her to talk to Minji. Maybe this was her time. Maybe she should come clean now… she didn’t have much of a choice, did she? She couldn’t just let Minji believe that Yoohyeon had lied to Siyeon like that. “Can we talk in my room?”  
“Don’t bother. I’m going to Gahyeon’s… I have something to tell her.” Yoohyeon put on her shoes again. “Thank you so much, Minji. And both of you, I’m so sorry for being so careless. See you later!”   
When she was gone, Minji sat down next to Siyeon on the couch. “Aren’t you hurt at all?”  
“Yoohyeon’s not lying to me about her feelings. I’m the one lying… okay, well, we both are lying. We are not dating at all. I just made that up on the spot when we met you and Bora that day.” Even though that was the less painful part of the truth, it felt good to say it. Siyeon felt a bit more relieved, a bit stronger, a bit more ready for what she had to say now. “I said that to hide the fact that we’re living together and… because…I wanted to prove that I was over Bora. Or, rather, cover up the fact that I ever had feelings for her. Because I did. That’s why I moved out.” Siyeon had never been so afraid of any reaction ever in her life. She was so ashamed of herself and everything that had happened. Tears were filling her eyes, but she blinked them away. What if Minji would get angry with her? What if she would want to break contact for good now?   
Minji took her hand and smiled, softly. “I know.”  
That wasn’t close to the reaction Siyeon had expected. “What?”  
“I know. I’ve always known that you had a crush on Bora back then. That smile when you looked at her or talked to her… I knew that smile from the times you had feelings for Yoohyeon all too well. I saw the jealousy and pain on your face when we got together… I know. Don’t worry, though, I never told Bora a word about it.”  
How was it possible that Minji had known about it all along? “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”  
“I love Bora with all my heart. She’s the love of my life. You’re my sister and I can’t deny you any wish… if I talked to you about it, I’d have to recognize your feelings and admit that my actions are hurting you and I was afraid that I would let you have her. I couldn’t let that happen. I would let you have everything, but not her. Damn, I couldn’t let you have her.”  
“Bora loves you, though. She loves you so much. She never would’ve wanted me.”   
“I know… I was just afraid, to be honest. And later on, I was too ashamed to mention it. When you moved out, I knew why, I knew exactly why… that’s why I’ve been avoiding you as much as Bora let me.”  
“Same for me. I’m mostly over Bora now, but I still couldn’t talk to you about it. And it felt like the longer I waited, the harder it got.”  
They understood each other surprisingly well. They both had been stupid and they both could have handled their feelings and the situation better, but they were here now. That was all that mattered in that moment.   
“I’m sorry. For everything. You know that I love you so much, right?” Minji said. “You’re so important to me, Siyeon. I couldn’t stand being apart from you. I hated myself over the last few weeks.”  
“I love you too. Please don’t hate yourself. We fucked up, but there’s no use in regret. The best thing we can do is be honest with each other now and both put in effort to get our relationship back to normal again, “ Siyeon said. Much to her own surprise, she actually believed in those words. She still felt bad about the past few months, but what she needed the most right now was her sister back in her life.   
“You’re right. Let’s lay everything out on the table, okay? All the things we have held back over the past few weeks and months, “ Minji suggested. “I’ll start. I almost broke up with Bora because I wanted you back so badly. She doesn’t even know… but yeah, I thought about it. But I just realized how important she is to me. I had faith that I would get you back someday, especially because I thought you had your own girlfriend now, and I’m planning on proposing to her. I want to wait until things between you and me are good again, but I want to do it next year, right away.”  
Siyeon almost started laughing, but she managed not to. It had only been three days ago when Bora had told her about her plans to propose to Minji. They were just too much. “I’m happy for you. I want to be a bridesmaid, by the way.”  
“Of course, “ Minji smiled at her and it was clear how happy she was herself. “It’s your turn. Why the heck are you living together with Kim Yoohyeon?”  
“We were victims of a real estate scam… there was some sort of double contract. Yoohyeon and I both wanted to move in here on the same day. We went to an expert and found out that the apartment is currently on sale, but that it costs almost double the amount of money. Neither of us could afford that, so we decided to share the apartment, “ Siyeon gave her a short summary.   
“I never thought you would end up living with Kim Yoohyeon. ‘You’re the girl that rocks my world, I want to hold your hand until the bitter end, Yoohyeon, you’re the love of my life, one day, I’ll be your wife.’.” Minji was quoting one of Siyeon’s poems that she had written in middle school. It was questionable why she could still remember it, Siyeon herself couldn’t even remember writing it.   
“Never bring that up again. Yoohyeon can’t know that I used to have a crush on her.” Siyeon buried her face in her hands. “Plus it’s just pure cringe and embarrassment.”  
“Wait.” Minji was grinning widely. “Do you have a crush on her again?”  
She was close to denying it when she remembered that they wanted to be honest with each other now. That probably included her feelings for Yoohyeon. “Maybe a bit…”  
Minji squealed. “I can’t! That’s so cute. I mean, the order is a bit mixed up, first living together, then dating and then falling in love… You could confess to her using your poem! I assume she doesn’t know, right?”  
“Of course not! I won’t confess to her… We are living together and fake dating, it would just make everything more complicated and uncomfortable. Plus, I think she might be interested in somebody else.” Siyeon thought about Handong. When she had told her that it was okay to end their fake relationship if she fell for somebody else, she didn’t really react, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t in love with Handong.   
“Really? Who?”  
“Someone from our vocal group. The soloist.”  
“Handong? Bora told me about her and I looked her up on the internet. She is so pretty…”   
Siyeon took a pillow and hit Minji with it. “That’s not comforting!”  
“I don’t wanna comfort you. You should just stop being a coward and tell her. Maybe she likes you back? You never know. As long as she hasn’t clearly said that she has feelings for Handong, there is still a chance.”   
Of course Minji was right, but there was still a higher chance that Siyeon would just get straight up rejected if she told her about her feelings. Right now, Yoohyeon had enough to deal with anyway.   
“By the way, where did you meet Yoohyeon today?” she asked. “Is she okay? I am kind of worried about her.”  
“She was at a shoot of the magazine… You know, as photography assistant. She didn’t look too well, so I took her home. I think she’s better now.”  
“Thanks. By the way… How should I handle the Bora situation? Should I tell her? Shouldn’t I?”  
Minji shrugged. “Whatever you’re comfortable with. I don’t think she necessarily needs to know about it, but if you think it would make you feel better, go for it. You should maybe tell her that you’re not really dating Yoohyeon, though… we’ve talked about the choreo for your duet and her plans are… intensely romantic. Just say that you made that up because you didn’t want me to know you’re living together or something.”  
Siyeon had missed the chance to tell Bora a lie like that. If she was going to tell her, she would have to tell her everything. Bora had made up a perfect story about why Siyeon had moved out. If she was going to destroy that, she had to give her the real reason for her moving out. “You’re scaring me. What are her plans for the choreo? She told us she wouldn’t overdo it.”  
Minji coughed. “Maybe you should talk to her about that again.”  
They spent the rest of the afternoon together, exchanging stories of the last few weeks. Siyeon told her more about her crush on Yoohyeon and how she had realized that she had those feelings, but also about the vocal group. Minji complained about work and talked about her wish to get a dog. But no matter what they were talking about, they always came back to Bora, so they decided to each open up about how they fell for her and what had been going on in their heads since then. It felt unbelievable good to be so honest. Talking with Minji about her feelings for her girlfriend was awkward, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Siyeon thought it would be.   
“Do you wanna stay for dinner?” Siyeon asked in the evening. “I can cook something.”  
“Bora’s waiting for me. But what do you say, all four of us, dinner next Friday?”   
“I’ll ask Yoohyeon, but yeah, I’m in.”  
“I’m glad to have you back.”  
“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoyed this chapter!!! feedback's very much appreciated, as always


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siyeon baking is 100% me... this chapter is kinda all over the place, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!!

When Siyeon entered the gym the next Tuesday for the second dance practice, she was greeted by an overly excited Bora, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’m so so glad that you and Minji talked it out! Thank you so much, I can’t believe it. I honestly didn’t think you would do it but I am so glad you did.”  
“Can we talk about that later?” Siyeon pushed the smaller girl away from and nodded at the rest of the vocal group. “We should focus on the dance practice now.”  
“Of course! Today, we’re jumping straight to the dance break…”   
Things had been good since last Friday. Siyeon hadn’t seen Minji since then, but they had texted a bit and their dinner date for this Friday was set. Yoohyeon seemed to be doing better. She had only told Siyeon the basics of what had happened with her parents, but at least she was talking to Gahyeon again, which was enough. Siyeon was glad that she wasn’t trying to deal with it on her own anymore.   
After the dance practice, Siyeon stayed behind with Bora, both sitting down on the bleachers. “I have to tell you something. Minji knows now… So I think you deserve to know as well, “ Siyeon started nervously.   
“Okay?” Bora seemed a bit irritated. “What is it?”  
“Yoohyeon and I are not actually dating, “ she said carefully.   
That alone was enough to make Bora lose her shit. “What? How the hell are you two not dating? Explain.”  
“We’re just pretending to. It started because of Minji … and you, actually. I made it up because I wanted to hide the fact that I was living together with Yoohyeon. And to cover up the real reason I moved out. It was because I had feelings for you. Like, romantic feelings. Like, I was in love with you.” Siyeon was talking really fast, trying to get it all out as fast as possible.   
Bora took it all in calmly. “You’re not anymore?”  
Siyeon nodded.   
“Well, I too am in love with myself, so I get it, “ Bora said and laughed awkwardly. “I’m glad you told me. Don’t think this will change anything, I will still be as annoying as ever. And don’t you dare get uncomfortable around me now.”  
Siyeon laughed. “I won’t, I promise. I’ll probably be more comfortable with you now.”  
“I don’t know what else to say, to be honest. I’m sorry that you had to move out of your own home because of me.”   
“It’s okay. That was purely my own fault.”  
They sat next to each other in silence, before Bora remembered how the conversation had started out. “So… you and Yoohyeon are not a couple?”  
“No. I’m really sorry for making up that lie.”  
“Shit, my choreo plans will be really awkward then.”   
Siyeon rolled her eyes. “I really don’t wanna know what your plans are. Please tone it down a bit. A lot.”  
“Now I get why you were against it in the beginning. Well, I need some time to process this and rethink my entire plans for ‘Really Really’. And I need to call Minji and cry to her about this. Does she know? I guess she does.” Bora definitely cared more about that part than Siyeon having a crush on her. Siyeon was relieved of how calmly Bora had taken it in and how she hadn’t made a big deal out of it. “See you two on Friday? By the way, could you and Yoohyeon maybe bring a dessert?” The older girl gathered her things.   
Siyeon gave her a small smile. “Sure thing. See you then!”

Bora asking them to bring dessert was absolutely perfect. It was a good excuse to spend a lot of quality time with Yoohyeon. At first, Siyeon thought about making one herself or just buying something, but then she realized that if she got Yoohyeon involved in this, it would be way more fun. On Wednesday, they browsed through the internet and looked for recipes, getting sidetracked by long discussions about food. Suddenly, Yoohyeon was telling her about this cooking show she really liked, so they spent the rest of the evening watching episodes of that.   
On Thursday, they went to the grocery store together to get the ingredients. They ended up buying a bunch of snacks and other things they definitely didn’t need.   
“I have never baked anything in my entire life. This was a bad idea, “ Yoohyeon said on Friday. The ingredients were spread out in front of them on the kitchen table, a printed out copy of the recipe next to them. “We haven’t even started and I’m already lost.”  
“Same.” Siyeon picked up the piece of paper and read through the first step. “It doesn’t sound that hard, though. We only have to mix all of these, right?”  
Yoohyeon grabbed a bowl and the scale. “What’s first?”  
They followed the recipe step by step. Beside of the mess they made and the fact that they put in too much sugar, the dough in front of them actually looked pretty decent in the end.   
“We really did it, “ Yoohyeon said. “We are geniuses. Now we only have to bake it…” She stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked at Siyeon with a horrified expression. “What forms do we have to bake the cakes in?”  
Siyeon looked around the kitchen. “…we are literally the dumbest people on this planet. We don’t have any form at all, right?”   
“We didn’t buy one, I didn’t bring one here when we moved in… what about you?”   
“Do I look like someone who owns baking forms?” Siyeon felt the need to bang her head on the kitchen table. “I can’t believe how stupid we are. How could we not think about something like that?”  
“Isn’t there like a tray in the oven we could use?” Yoohyeon asked and went to the oven herself to check. “Nope.”  
Siyeon looked around their kitchen. “What if we bake the cake inside of like a glass bowl?”  
“Does that work? Can you put glass inside of the oven?” Yoohyeon got two small glass bowls out of the cupboard. “What if they burst or something?”  
“I mean, you can definitely put them into a microwave, so I think they will survive an oven.” Siyeon wasn’t sure about it, so she took out her phone to ask the internet for help. She scrolled over the first few entries. “I guess it’s okay.”  
The other girl didn’t look convinced by the result of her quick google search, but she didn’t seem to have any better ideas, so Siyeon just took the two bowls and put the dough into them. Then she put them into the oven and turned it on. “Let’s try this.”  
“Don’t you preheat an oven usually?” Yoohyeon asked. “Or like… put something into the form so the cake doesn’t stick to it?”  
“You should have told me that earlier, “ Siyeon said. “Too late for that now.”  
Yoohyeon sighed. “Let’s clean up this mess we made while we wait.”  
While they were tidying up the whole kitchen, Yoohyeon started to sing her part of ‘Really Really’. They had gone through the songs a few times with the teacher to distribute the parts between them, but besides that, they hadn’t started practicing the song. In their vocal group meetings, they had been mostly focusing on the songs all of them were part of.   
Siyeon joined in with her parts. They went through the whole song and right after it, Yoohyeon just started singing ‘To the DJ’. By the time the cakes were done, they had sung through all of the songs for the concert without saying one word.   
“Maybe we should let them cool down and try to take them out after that?” Yoohyeon said when she took the two glass bowls out of the oven.   
They decided to get ready first and to try their luck right before leaving. Siyeon didn’t really need much time to get ready, she didn’t bother putting much effort into her outfit as it would only be a casual dinner with her family. Not Yoohyeon, though. She wore a beautiful blouse and a nice skirt, her hair falling perfectly down her shoulders. In other words, she looked way too good and Siyeon died when she saw her coming out of her room. “You look nice, “ Siyeon complimented her, trying to sound as straight as possible. Just gals being pals, nothing gay going on in her mind. She wasn’t thinking about holding Yoohyeon’s hand. Running her fingers through her silver hair. Pushing her against a wall. Their faces slowly getting closer, kissing her… She coughed and tried to think about something else. “We should take care of the disaster cakes.”  
Getting the cakes out of the glass bowls killed Siyeon in a completely different way. Yoohyeon had been right, of course she had, they stuck to the bowls and Siyeon’s best idea was to use a knife to get them out, which of course led to absolutely terrible looking cakes. “Well… the taste is what matters.”  
Yoohyeon stared at the two messes. “We can’t show up with that.”  
“Do we have a choice? It’s this or nothing.”   
“No.” The other girl shook her head. “We have to do something.” She looked around the kitchen, opened the cupboards and went through the fridge. Then she gathered milk, cookies, hazelnut spread and little bowls. “Let’s make a presentable dessert.”

Minji opened the door for them, looking like the actual sun because of her bright and warm smile. “My children! Come in, come in. Is that the dessert? It looks so cute! Siyeon didn’t do this, right? She’d never put in so much effort. I thought you would just buy something, honestly. You didn’t have to bother with making something, but I appreciate it a lot. It looks delicious!”   
Siyeon looked at the four little bowls she was carrying on a little wooden tray. They did look okay, even if it was just cake and cookie crumbles mixed with a bit of milk and hazelnut spread. Yoohyeon had put a whole cookie on top of each one, which changed the outer appearance from a weird mass to a cute dessert. Siyeon never would have thought of something like that. “All Yoohyeon’s doing, “ she confirmed.   
Minji greeted Yoohyeon with a big hug. “Are you doing all right? I’m sorry I was so harsh to you last week. I hope you can forgive me.”  
“Don’t worry, I get it.”   
When the two of them were done, Minji turned to the Siyeon and the tray again. “Put those in the fridge, I guess.” Then she grabbed Yoohyeon’s arm. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” The two of them disappeared into the living room.    
Siyeon was a bit hesitant to go in further. After all, she had lived in this place for several years. So many good and bad memories went through her mind already and she was only standing in the hallway. It had been two months since she had moved out of here, but it simultaneously felt like a century had passed since then and like no time had gone by at all. It was strange to be back here, but it also felt like the most natural thing. She only noticed now that she had missed her home. She had missed the smell of Bora’s cooking flooding the entire apartment. She had missed Minji’s thousands of shoes and jackets lying and hanging around all over the place. She had missed the creaking floor in the hallway. She had missed hearing Minji’s laughter out of another room.   
But this wasn’t her home anymore. Things had changed, everything was different now. Most of all, she was different. She wasn’t in love with Bora anymore. She wasn’t living here anymore. She was only here to visit.   
She took her deep breath and tried to put all of her thoughts about the past behind her before she finally took her shoes off and left the hallway.

“Before we start eating, I wanna say something, “ Bora announced when dinner was finished and they were finally all gathered around the table. Minji gave her an encouraging nod while Siyeon could only roll her eyes and sigh. This would be sappy and emotional and she wasn’t in the mood for that.   
“I’m so, so glad that the truth is finally out and that we can comfortably spend time together like this. You’re my family and I love you all. Yoohyeon, I hope you know that even though you are not Siyeon’s girlfriend, you’re still part of the family. Siyeon, I love you a lot. I’m so sorry you left home and argued with your sister because of me. I might have reacted a bit insensitive when you told me about your feelings for me- “  
Fuck. Siyeon noticed too late where she was going with that. “Bora, “ she interrupted her, shaking her head, her eyes wide open. “No.”   
It was too late. Yoohyeon had already turned around to her, a surprised look on her face.   
“What? It’s okay, Siyeon. It doesn’t change anything.” Bora seemed ready to continue her speech, but Minji gently nudged her side.   
“Babe. She didn’t know.”   
Bora looked between Siyeon’s horrified expression and Yoohyeon. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I’m really sorry…”  
“It’s none of my business, I’ll just forget I ever heard that, “ Yoohyeon said with a shrug.   
Even though Siyeon knew that Yoohyeon didn’t have feelings for her, it still hurt to hear that she didn’t care at all that she had feelings for someone else. She tried to hide her disappointment behind a smile. “It’s fine, I guess. It’s just Yoohyeon.”  
Minji coughed. “Let’s start eating. The food is getting cold.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this whole chapter is just Yoohyeon being stupid...

“Thank you for taking care of our Siyeon. You’re always welcome here, any time. We’re here for you, Yoohyeon.” Minji gave her one last hug. “And again, that dessert was heaven.”  
It had been far from heaven. The milk soaked mixture of cake and cookie crumbles had tasted kind of weird, but Bora and Minji had showered her in compliments nonetheless. “Thanks for the food. It was delicious.”  
Bora also hugged Yoohyeon shortly. “We should do this again soon. I’ll see you at dance practice.” Then the older girl turned around to Siyeon and said goodbye to her.   
Yoohyeon still couldn’t believe what she had found out during the dinner. Siyeon was in love with Bora, her sister’s girlfriend. Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense. Why she had moved out, why she had pushed the two of them away, why she had made up a fake relationship in front of them. Yoohyeon remembered her weird reaction when she had asked her if she had feelings for someone. Back then, she hadn’t really thought much of it, but looking back with her new knowledge, she had definitely denied it too strongly.   
Somehow, the fact that Siyeon had feelings for Bora wasn’t a problem for Minji and Bora. They didn’t act weird around her at all and seemed pretty unbothered. And Siyeon had even made a comment about how cute Minji and Bora were together throughout the dinner. Yoohyeon didn’t really get that, but it wasn’t any of her business how they were dealing with it, was it? Just that knowing about Siyeon’s crush made her feel weird for some reason. She couldn’t stop thinking about it all evening. She had been paying close attention to the way Siyeon had acted around Bora and whenever she had laughed at her jokes or shared a smile with her, something had bothered Yoohyeon about it. Maybe it was just out of sympathy for Siyeon, but her heart had always made a little jump when she noticed those small moments between them.   
Even during the dance practice the next Tuesday, she couldn’t help but analyze the way that Siyeon was looking at Bora. Her expression didn’t give much away… but was there heartbreak in her eyes? Yoohyeon really couldn’t imagine what it was like to be in love with someone, knowing that they were in a relationship with someone else, and then being taught how to dance by them. Her heart ached thinking about the other girl’s misery. For some reason, she felt a certain anger towards Bora now… She had caused Siyeon so much pain. It was not like it was her fault that Siyeon was in love with her even though she was dating her sister, but still… She could really handle this situation more sensibly, right? There was no reason for her to put her arms around Siyeon like that to show her the dance moves...  
“You look angered. Are you struggling? Do you need help?“ Handong next to her suddenly asked. They were supposed to practice a dance move on their own while Bora was walking around to see how everyone was doing. Yoohyeon tore her eyes away from Siyeon.   
“It’s okay. Thank you for asking, though. I appreciate it!” Yoohyeon smiled at her. “I’m fine.”  
Why was this bothering Yoohyeon so much? She tried to push it away and focus on the practice, but her eyes and thoughts always returned to Siyeon and Bora.   
When Bora finally let them go, Yoohyeon was ready to escape the gym and she basically ran towards the exit.   
“Where are you going?” Siyeon yelled after her. “We’re starting with the choreo for our duet today.”  
Shit. Yoohyeon had completely forgotten that they had agreed on doing that today. She really wasn’t in the mood to spend even more time with the two of them, especially alone, but did she have much of a choice? There wasn’t even reason for her not to spend time with them. It just made her uncomfortable now, knowing that one had unrequited feelings for the other.   
She slowly walked back to the two of them. “I almost forgot.”  
“Are you okay?” Bora asked. “You seem a bit distracted today.”  
Yoohyeon wanted to disappear, but instead she just put on a smile and waved it off. “It’s fine. Just stress and anxiety because of school and the concert.”  
That didn’t seem to convince the older one, but she let it be. “Now that I know that you two aren’t actually a couple… this might be a bit awkward. But I don’t wanna back out of it now, so we are doing this, but toned down by, like, a lot.”  
“Why can’t we just sing it while standing normally?” Siyeon asked. “I don’t get it.”  
“I told the teacher I wanted to do something for it, so I am doing something for it, “ Bora insisted. “Really, the new version is not even half as bad as my original ideas.”  
“Thank god, “ Siyeon sighed. “So, what are you thinking?”  
“A bit of dancing around to fill the stage… some arm and hand movements… like hearts…”   
Siyeon looked at Yoohyeon with a smile. “I guess we can’t escape the hearts.”  
“You’re not dating… but I still think that the most important thing about the performance is that the chemistry between you two fits and that it has this light and cute feeling to it, you know? To see where we are standing on that, let me just play the song and you two lip sync for me. Dramatically. Over the top. Just… let go.” Bora clapped her hands before she took her phone and played the song. “Go.”  
Siyeon and Yoohyeon both looked at each other uncomfortably. Neither of them had any idea of what to do. It was just pure awkward.   
Not acceptable for Bora, She just took over herself, singing along to the lyrics loudly, jumping around. Her dance movements were, of course, flawless, and Yoohyeon couldn’t help but smile when she started throwing around hearts. Then she grabbed Siyeon’s hand and swirled her around. The younger girl laughed and joined in to the dancing and singing. They were dancing closely and for the chorus part, Bora actually looked at Siyeon and blew her a kiss. She returned it with a heart and a bright smile.   
How could she smile so much right now? Wasn’t this like torture for Siyeon? If it was that awkward for Yoohyeon, how was Siyeon just not showing any sign of being sad or heartbroken?   
Yoohyeon didn’t disturb their little dance party, even though both of them tried to persuade her to. She just shook her head when they waved at her or yelled her name and she distanced herself more and more from them. When the song was finally done, she was almost sitting on the bleachers.   
“We can continue this on another day, if you’re not feeling well, “ Bora offered. “There’s really no point in doing this if you are sick or something like that.”  
Yoohyeon felt a bit embarrassed. What even was going on with her? Why was she the only one bothered by all of this? Why wasn’t this affecting Bora or Siyeon in any way? “Maybe that’s a good idea… I’m so sorry.”  
Siyeon put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. The only important thing is that you’re okay.”  
Yoohyeon smiled at her, then she waved Bora good bye and finally escaped the gym.

“Siyeon is in love with Bora?” Gahyeon repeated. “I didn’t see that coming. I mean, it makes sense that she likes someone, but I thought it was…” She stopped right there, shaking her head. “I guess I was wrong.”  
“Who did you think she liked?” Yoohyeon asked. The two of them were sitting on Yoohyeon’s bed, cuddled up against each other.   
“I just thought it was someone else. Anyone who’s not Bora. But now that you say it… she’s been acting strange around Bora. Unrequited love does make sense.”   
“I feel so bad for her, being in love with her sister’s girlfriend can’t be easy. Whenever I think about it, I get upset. Siyeon deserves someone who loves her back.” Yoohyeon sighed. “Everyone does.”  
Gahyeon turned to her with a frown on her face. “Wait… you get upset when you think about Siyeon liking Bora?”  
“Yeah, of course I do. It must hurt her a lot. She’s my friend, I don’t want her to have a broken heart.” Maybe her feelings about this were a bit extreme, but she had been quite emotional in general lately.   
Gahyeon laughed a bit. “Sure thing. A friend.”  
“I’m surprised too. Who would’ve ever thought I would become Siyeon’s friend? But we really are. She is so kind and nice.” Yoohyeon thought about the way Siyeon had supported her over the past few weeks, how much fun they were having together and how much she was always looking forward to spending time with her. Why did she ever think that that huge softie was an asshole?   
“Speaking about kind and nice girls. What is going on between you and Handong?” Gahyeon asked.   
“We’re friends, I think. We talked a few times and we get along really well.” Yoohyeon smiled. “Why are you asking?”  
“I feel like Handong might have a crush on you, “ Gahyeon said   
Yoohyeon thought about the way the Chinese girl acted around her. “No way. She’s just glad that someone speaks her mother tongue a bit.”  
“You should’ve seen her face when she found out you and Siyeon were dating.”  
“I don’t think she likes me…”   
“Are you interested in her?” Gahyeon asked.   
Yoohyeon considered that for a bit. Handong was really pretty, but she didn’t know her too well and when she tried to imagine herself dating Handong, she just couldn’t. “No, not really.”  
Gahyeon nodded, a smile on her lips. “That’s good. So, what do you wanna do to make things less awkward for you with Siyeon? You won’t be able to avoid spending time with the two of them forever.”  
“I don’t know. I’ll get used to it, right? I just don’t get how they are all handling it so casually.”   
“Maybe they’re just better actors than you. Don’t you think you should maybe talk to Siyeon about it? Find out how she is feeling? That might help you.”  
“That conversation would be so awkward… Siyeon probably doesn’t wanna talk about it anyway, “ Yoohyeon said.   
“You should try bringing it up. Maybe there is something else you don’t know yet. The only way to understand how everyone’s so calm about this is talking to her.”  
Gahyeon was probably right. Maybe there really was something she didn’t know yet. She just didn’t want to listen to Siyeon talk about her love for Bora. But there was a possibility that hearing all of it would make her feel less uncomfortable. She had to try.

On Thursday evening, they were both sitting on the couch together. “The vocal practice today was good, “ Siyeon said. “But the teacher was so stressed about the rap part in ‘Only one for me’. He looked like he was about to cry after you tried to rap it.”  
He did really look desperate. His first choice for the rap part had been Gahyeon, but she had refused wholeheartedly and threatened to not be part of the song at all. Handong had used the language barrier as an excuse and then he has asked Yoohyeon, so she had rapped the part for him. Her rap skills were non-existent though. Gahyeon and Siyeon had both been laughing so much that the teacher had to tell them to go outside for a minute to calm down.   
“I guess he’ll have to cut the rap now, “ Siyeon said. “None of us can rap, so it’s kind of the only way. I don’t think he will find someone who can rap soon enough.”  
Wait. Yoohyeon knew someone who could rap really well. Why hadn’t she thought of that sooner? “I will find someone.”  
“What?” Siyeon looked confused. “A rapper?”  
“Yeah. Yoobin can rap. She’s talented. And I think if I’ll be able to convince her to do it.” Yoohyeon smiled thinking about the fact that she might be able to perform on stage with Yoobin. They both had been talking about that since they were children. It’d be a dream come true,  even if it was just one song during their school concert.   
“Cool, I guess, “ Siyeon said.   
There was a bit of silence. That was Yoohyeon’s chance. “I wanted to ask you… your feelings for Bora… How do you act so casual around her? Doesn’t it hurt?”  
Siyeon frowned a bit. “Why would it hurt?”  
“Because you are in love with her and she is dating your sister?”   
“Oh, “ Siyeon shook her head with a little smile. “I’m not in love with her anymore. I used to be, but my feelings kind of just… vanished.”  
That explained a lot. For some reason, hearing that made Yoohyeon really happy. “That’s good for you.”  
Siyeon still looked at her weirdly, but she just shrugged. “I guess it is.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an intervention (kind of) (feat. Bora saying really cheesy things about Minji... )

After the next dance practice, they finally went through Bora’s ideas for the choreo. It really wasn’t much, a few set moves for the chorus and some advice on what they could do during the verses instead of just standing around. When they were done, Siyeon stayed behind to talk with Bora for a bit.  
“Can I ask you something?” Bora said after they had sat down on the bleachers.  
“Sure, go ahead.”  
“Do you have feelings for Yoohyeon? Like, real feelings?”  
That caught Siyeon off guard. She had been confident that she was good at hiding her crush. “Why do you think that?”  
“You watch her a lot. Sometimes when you look at her, there’s this little smile on your lips. When you talk about her, your eyes sparkle a bit. When you talk to her, you never look into her eyes for long.”  
Was it really that obvious that she had feelings for Yoohyeon? Bora hadn’t noticed that Siyeon had had feelings for her for years, but she had noticed those things immediately? “I-“ she started.  
Bora didn’t give her a chance to finish that. “So it’s true.”  
“I didn’t even say anything.”  
“You wanna tell me it’s not true?”  
She didn’t know an answer to that, but her silence probably said more than any of her words could have.  
“You haven’t told her yet, have you?” Bora asked.  
“Of course not. And I don’t plan on telling her at all.”  
“Are you stupid?” Bora hit her arm. “You should tell her eventually. I think the chances that she likes you back are… high. Very high.”  
“I don’t think so. When she thought I had feelings for you it didn’t bother her at all. You heard it when she said it was none of her business. And when I told her that I don’t have feelings for you anymore, she just said ‘That’s good for you’.”  
“That doesn’t prove anything. She might be trying to hide her feelings.”  
Siyeon shrugged. “I don’t know. I think she likes someone else.”  
“And why do you think that?”  
“Because of the way she looks at her and talks about her…” Siyeon let out a long sigh. “It’s different than the way she looks at me or you or her friends.”  
“As long as she hasn’t said anything about it to you, there is still a chance.”  
That was annoyingly similar to what Minji had told Siyeon. “I just don’t wanna confess to her right now. And, please, try not to act weird around her now. I know you sometimes get excited about things...”  
“What do you mean? I’m good at being subtle about things.”  
“I don’t even want you to be subtle about it. I want you to act like you don’t know a thing at all.”  
Bora rolled her eyes. “Have a little trust in me. I won’t act weird around her. I promise.”

It was Saturday morning when Siyeon received a bunch of weird texts from Bora. It took her a moment until she understood that she was quoting ‘Really Really’.

_Bora [10:16 am]: Where are you? Home?_   
_Bora [10:16 am]: If you’re not busy, come out_   
_Bora [10:17 am]: I’m in front of your house_

She sent back a few question marks as a response, but then the door ball rang. Siyeon opened the door just to find a suspiciously smiling Bora with a bag in her hands in front of it. “I have a plan. Is Yoohyeon here? Do you have time today? Yoohyeon?” She walked past Siyeon into the apartment, looking for the younger girl.  
“She’s in her room, “ Siyeon told her, closing the door. “What are you doing here?”  
“Yoohyeon?” Bora repeated, completely ignoring her question.  
“Bora!” Yoohyeon yelled back excitedly, opening the door to her room. “What are you doing here?”  
“Do you have plans today?”  
Yoohyeon shook her head. “Not really. Why are you asking?”  
“Get ready, we’re going to practice for the duet. We’re leaving in half an hour.” Bora turned around again, grabbing Siyeon’s hand and pulling her into her room. “I’m helping you get ready.”  
“What is going on?” Siyeon asked her when they were in her room. “Why are we practicing for the duet today? It’s Saturday. We’ll practice again on Tuesday.”  
“Oh, trust me, you will like this. I’ll tell Yoohyeon we’re doing this to help you get a feel for the song or something like that, I don’t know, I’ll come up with a good explanation. We’ll go somewhere and just sing and move to the music. It’ll be romantic. I brought the perfect outfit for you.” She held up the bag. “Trust me, this is a good plan.”  
“You said you wouldn’t do anything weird.”  
“This isn’t weird.” Bora took out the cloths of the bag. “Let’s get you dressed first, I’ll do your hair and makeup later.”  
The outfit she had picked for Siyeon was nothing Siyeon would ever have chosen on her own. She liked the red bomber jacket and the black shirt that had some logo in the same red tone on it, but Bora had picked out a black skirt as well. It was pretty tight and there was a band going around one of her legs. Skirts had never been her thing, but she felt surprisingly comfortable in that one. She still would have preferred pants, but she could live with this. When she was dressed, Bora started to work on her hair and makeup. She put a hair band into her hair, then she looked her up and down one more time and nodded. “I’m a good stylist.”  
Siyeon took a look into the mirror. She had to agree that she did look kind of hot, but she doubted that Yoohyeon would notice or care.  
When Siyeon and Bora finally left her room, Yoohyeon was already waiting for them in the living room. She looked good as well. Her eyes wandered over Siyeon’s body. “Nice skirt, “ she then said before turning away.  
Bora pushed Siyeon a bit and gave her a meaningful smile. “Gay, “ she mouthed silently and wiggled her eyebrows.  
Siyeon just shook her head and made her way down the stairs toward the door. “Let’s go. Are we going to the school or did you find another gym or dance studio we could use?”  
“Gym? We’re going to a park. It’s really beautiful there.” Bora followed Siyeon and put an arm around her shoulder. “This is gonna be fun.”

“How are we going to practice here?” Yoohyeon asked, looking around the park. It was beautiful, but it was also a public space, even though there were no people in sight right now. There was a wooden trail leading through the park. Bora stopped right at the start of it.  
“I want you to work on your chemistry and get a feeling for this song. That’s really important.” Bora took out her phone and put on the song. “This is the stage.” She pointed at the wooden trail. “Own it.”  
Before Siyeon had a chance to protest and bring up her worries about people seeing them, Yoohyeon had started singing along and moving to the music. Bora gave her an encouraging nod. “That’s the spirit.”  
Siyeon was a bit more hesitant to sing and dance, but she eventually gave in and just went with what felt right. She tried to imagine that they were a famous girl group shooting an MV here. Sooner or later, she was actually having fun and couldn’t help but smile. Whenever she looked over to Yoohyeon, the other girl was also smiling brightly.  
When the song was over, Bora clapped a bit. “That wasn’t bad. I could see that you two were having fun… but as separate units. I want you to have fun together, I want to see this together, you know? And I think that feeling is missing a bit. You sing it like a light pop song, which it is, but this is about confessing your feelings to your crush. It has this bubbly and happy feeling of being in love and finally telling the other person. I’m kind of missing that. If I didn’t understand the lyrics, I had no idea what this song was about. A foreigner should understand what it’s about just from watching you.”  
“It’s just one song at a school concert. No one will care if it doesn’t perfectly convey the feeling, “ Yoohyeon said. “I get that you were excited about working with us when you thought we were a couple and that you maybe saw potential in that. You don’t wanna back out now, I get it. But it’s not that big of a deal.”  
Bora and Siyeon exchanged a look, before Bora sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal. But I need to prove that I can put on a good performance. I was supposed to dance during the last school concert, but they didn’t let me because things happened. It’s kind of been haunting me, to be honest.”  
“What happened back then?” Yoohyeon asked.  
“I have no idea. The principal told me I wasn’t allowed to perform anymore because it wouldn’t fit to the concert. That was it. He didn’t give me more of a reason. I tried to argue with him, but he only ever said that it wasn’t what he wanted at the concert, “ Bora shrugged a bit. “It’s been nagging at my ego a bit.”  
“So we’re doing this for your ego?” Yoohyeon said.  
“Yeah.” Bora looked kind of self-conscious now, ready to take that comment back. Siyeon herself was sure that it was over now.  
To their surprise, Yoohyeon just nodded. “Okay. Then we will do our best to show the world that you can put together the best performance.”  
Bora’s insecure face turned into a bright smile. “Thank you so much, Yoohyeon! Then, let’s go again, I would say.”  
Siyeon didn’t really knew what to change for this round. She didn’t want her true feelings for Yoohyeon to be too obvious, but she couldn’t avoid looking at her completely. She just looked so beautiful in that moment, dancing around, her whole face shining because of her smile, singing “I like you”. It made Siyeon’s heart flutter and she was so focused on the other girl, that she barely had time to think much about what she should do to make it look good.  
When the song ended this time, Bora nodded again. “Better, I would say. But there is still something missing. Let’s sit down and take a break before we go again.”  
They found a little bench and sat down, Siyeon in between the other two.  
“Do you know why I picked this park? This is the place where Minji and I confessed our feelings to each other and kissed for the first time. I’m thinking about proposing here, but I’m not sure yet. I thought it was perfect for this song.” Bora was smiling into the distance. “This is one of my favorite places in the world. Minji and I haven’t been here together since that day, but I come here often when I feel lonely or down. It makes me feel at peace and it always reassures me in my feelings for Minji. Not that I ever really doubt my feelings, it’s more like I have this paranoia that we are rushing into things or that I’m not the love of her life, even though she is the love of mine. But when I come here, those worries just go away. We’re Minji and Bora. Sometimes I’m convinced that we are meant to be.”  
“Of course you are the love of her life, “ Siyeon said, taking Bora’s hand. Her sister loved this girl so deeply. The two of them were clearly meant to be. If soulmates really existed, they were each other’s.  
“When we came here… I really thought I didn’t have a chance with her. She was the fucking sun and I was just Kim Bora. I didn’t deserve her. I don’t, I really don’t. But then she took me here, held my hands, looked into my eyes and told me that she was in love with me. Nothing in my life has ever made me that happy. I didn’t say anything, I just kissed her and then we were both laughing and suddenly Minji was crying and then I had to cry and we talked about how much we meant to each other and how happy we were and I thought it was the most beautiful moment in my life. She proves me wrong every day.”  
That was the most romantic and the cutest thing Siyeon had ever heard. She saw tears in Bora’s eyes just from talking about it and she was close to crying herself. “You two…” she started, but she didn’t have the words to finish that.  
“Have you told her all of that?” Yoohyeon asked.  
Bora shook her head, then she shrugged it off. “I had a point with this, didn’t I? Something about your duet. Let’s just go through it one more time, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! last update of this year, can you believe??? this fic was really important for me in the last few months of this year and your comments and support for this fic have made me really happy, so thank you!!
> 
> btw I made a twitter account (yoowereamazing) and I'd love to talk to you guys there!! i made the curious cat thing too, so if you wanna talk about this fic or anything else, hmu! 
> 
> i appreciate feedback of all sorts!!


	19. Chapter 19

The realization hit Yoohyeon at the end of their third round of singing ‘Really Really’.  
She liked Siyeon. She really, really liked Siyeon. She had actual, genuine feelings for Lee Siyeon.  
That hit her so unexpectedly that she just stopped dancing and singing. Luckily, the song was almost over anyway. She needed some time to think about it. And she definitely needed some distance between her and Siyeon.  
“What’s wrong?” Bora asked her afterwards. “Did something happen at the end?”  
Yoohyeon shook her head. “All good, “ she said awkwardly, avoiding Siyeon’s stare on her. “But I realized that I was supposed to meet Gahyeon. I completely forgot, sorry. I have to go now.” The words stumbled out of her move, too fast, barely comprehensible. She waved at Bora, then she turned around and walked away. It was hard not to start running, but that would have looked even more suspicious.  
Once she was back on the street, she allowed herself to think it through again. She had feelings for Lee Siyeon. Even though the realization had come to her completely out of the blue, she was sure of it. Those feelings had been building up for quite some time now, hadn’t they? That weird, uncomfortable feeling she had when she had thought Siyeon was in love with Bora? That weird feeling she had gotten when she saw Siyeon in that outfit earlier? How fast her heart started beating when Siyeon had winked at her while singing during that last round of their duet? She was completely in love with Lee Siyeon. Lee Siyeon, the girl her best friend had some sort of crush on. Lee Siyeon, her rival since middle school. Lee Siyeon, the girl she shared an apartment with. Lee Siyeon, her fake girlfriend.  
Shit, why did she have to crush on Lee Siyeon, of all people? They were living together. This wouldn’t only cause extra hurt for Yoohyeon, but there was also the risk of things between them ending badly because of it. What was she supposed to do? Ignore her feelings and hope that they go away? Should she talk to her about it? What about Gahyeon?  
All of Yoohyeon’s previous crushes had been passing, nothing had really mattered. After figuring out that she was gay, she realized that maybe the ‘crushes’ she had on boys before were nothing more than compulsive heterosexuality. And after that, there had only been a bunch of girl she had found cute, but not intensely crushed on. Her way of dealing with that attraction was ignoring them completely, because every time she tried to approach someone she found interesting, she went into complete panic mode and embarrassed herself. Her feelings this time were different, way more intense. There was no doubt inside of her about it. She felt more than just a bit of attraction towards Siyeon. This was a proper crush. She didn’t know how to deal with a proper crush if she couldn’t even handle a bit of attraction.  
As always when Yoohyeon was confronted with something she didn’t know how to deal with, she called Gahyeon.

“I think I’m in love with Siyeon, “ Yoohyeon announced when they were both sitting in a café together. She expected her best friend to be shocked by this, but the reaction she got was the complete opposite.  
Gahyeon just laughed. “Glad you finally figured that out.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“It was obvious. You were so jealous when you thought she liked Bora, I kind of suspected that you might have feelings for her.”  
Gahyeon was right, Yoohyeon felt really dumb for not noticing that she had been jealous of Bora. Had she really thought she had just been feeling bad for Siyeon? Sympathy definitely felt different than what she had felt for Siyeon.  
Yoohyeon took Gahyeon’s hand. “I’m sorry. I know you have a crush on her. I won’t make a move on her, I promise.”  
Her friend laughed again. “Don’t worry, I’m over it. Besides, it wasn’t anything serious anyway, I just thought she was pretty and cool. Lee Siyeon is all yours.”  
A wave of relief washed over Yoohyeon. Things would have been even more complicated if Gahyeon still had feelings for her. It would have been a great excuse for Yoohyeon to just completely ignore her feelings, but she would have still felt bad for having feelings for the same person as Gahyeon.  
“What do I do?” Yoohyeon asked, letting out a deep sigh. “This sucks.”  
“Why? You should tell her, maybe she likes you too.” Gahyeon shrugged. “Then you can be a real couple. I think you’d be great together.”  
“And if she doesn’t, sharing an apartment with her will be awkward as fuck. I don’t wanna risk that, “ Yoohyeon said. “Maybe I should wait until we finally find separate places.”  
“Do you really want to wait that long? Love is about taking risks. If she doesn’t like you back, that’s it. You’ll both get over it quickly and it’s not like you have to spend a lot of time together just because you are sharing an apartment. There are still ways to avoid each other. So, yeah, you have lots to win and basically nothing to lose.”  
Gahyeon did make a good point, but Yoohyeon wasn’t completely convinced. “I should at least wait a bit until I am sure of my feelings. I just realized it today, I don’t want to rush into something. Maybe this is just a fleeting crush.”  
“Makes sense, “ Gahyeon nodded. “Just don’t try to brush these feelings off because you are scared or because you don’t think you have a chance. Because you do have a chance, I think.”  
Did she really? Until not too long ago, Siyeon had been in love with Bora. Feelings that had been there for years. Feelings like that didn’t just completely disappear overnight. She had said she was over it, but maybe she still wanted some time before jumping into something new. If she even was the tiniest bit interested in Yoohyeon, which she probably wasn’t.  
“How do I act around her now?” Yoohyeon moved onto the next of her concerns.  “I don’t want her to know.”  
“Just… act like you always did. Be nice to her, try not to get distant with her now. That would only make her think that something was up with you.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I’ll try. Shit, I just literally ran away from her after I realized, that was already weird enough, I guess.”  
“If you acting weird is a only a one-time thing, then she won’t think too much about it, “ Gahyeon assured her. “Honestly, Siyeon seems like the oblivious type.”  
“I don’t think so. She seems pretty good at reading people, “ Yoohyeon said. “Whenever I’m down, she notices it and leaves food that I like in the fridge or something small like that.”  
“First of all, that’s really cute. She must like you a lot. But just because she notices that, doesn’t mean that she knows when someone has feelings for her.”  
Yoohyeon shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. We will find out, I guess.”

When Yoohyeon came back to the apartment, Siyeon was already at home, watching a movie. She was still wearing the outfit from earlier and still looked just as good. Yoohyeon took a deep breath before walking into the living room and sitting down next to her.  
“I’m sorry that I left like that, “ she said. “I just felt really bad for forgetting about Gahyeon.”  
“It’s okay, I get it.” Siyeon gave her a small smile. “Bora said she thinks we got it during that last time.”  
“Good to hear. I’m still not sure what she was looking for, but glad that we’re giving her what she wants.”  
“Me too. Her story was pretty touching, too.”  
Yoohyeon agreed. Everything Bora had said about Minji had seemed so genuine and like it came straight out of her heart. Their love had moved something in Yoohyeon, a deep desire of having a relationship like that one day. And maybe she wanted Siyeon to be her special someone. Even though they had only been close to each other for a few weeks. Even though she thought she hated her up until the day that they had moved in together. Even though she had only realized today that she felt about Siyeon in that way. Yoohyeon’s heart was all in, already. And that thought scared the shit out of her.  
“And it was fun, “ Siyeon added, a bright smile lighting up her face. She was too beautiful. This all was a bit too much for Yoohyeon right now.  
“It really was.” She coughed and stood up again. “I have some homework to do… so yeah…” There was an awkward moment of silence. “I’ll leave you to your movie.”  
Siyeon nodded. “Let’s eat dinner together later. I’m helping out at work for a bit, but I can bring home some food after.”  
“Yeah, “ Yoohyeon said and escaped into her room. She closed the door a bit too loudly, before leaning against it and covering her face with her hands. This was really happening. She had really fallen for Siyeon, just like that.  
Earlier, when she had talked to Gahyeon, things had seemed easy. Act normal around Siyeon, not tell her about the feelings until she was sure. Then confess to her. Maybe get rejected, maybe not. Either way, it wouldn’t be too bad.  
Of course things weren’t that easy. The light feeling Yoohyeon had had just an hour ago was completely gone. Because this was really happening. She had feelings for Siyeon. And it wasn’t good at all.  
She couldn’t hide her feelings. There was no way Siyeon wouldn’t figure it out, was there? She had already acted way too suspiciously around her. It would be best if Yoohyeon avoided her as much as possible. Maybe a bit of distance would help her overcome her little crush. Jus that they were sharing an apartment and saw each other when they were practicing for the concert. She’d have to figure out how to hide her feelings then.  
Because if Siyeon ever figured it out… there were only two possible reactions. Either she didn’t return her feelings and she would have to reject her and it would break Yoohyeon’s heart and their friendship would suffer and everything would get awkward. But then again, Bora and Siyeon got over the younger one’s unrequited feelings and were getting closer again, so it was possible for them to do the same.  
And then there was the small chance that Siyeon did like her back. That thought was just as scary to Yoohyeon. If she was honest with herself, maybe she was a bit afraid of love and being loved.  
She thought about the warm feeling Siyeon gave her. How comfortable she felt around her. When the thing with her parents had happened, she had known how to take care of her. She always tried to be considerate of Yoohyeon’s feelings, no matter if it was about their fake relationship or just what she wanted to eat for dinner. Yoohyeon felt like she could talk to her about things if she wanted to and she was thankful that it seemed like the other girl felt the same way. Siyeon had opened up to her about things, pretty quickly, considering that she was the one who wanted a “no personal questions”- rule in the beginning. Yoohyeon thought about how much fun they had just listening to music or watching a movie. After two months of living together, the bond between them had grown stronger and stronger. No matter what would happen, she realized, it would be okay, because she had Siyeon in her life now and they would be able to work it out somehow. Her crush wouldn’t destroy their bond if Yoohyeon didn’t give it the chance to.  
She thought about the way Siyeon smiled at her and how she was always looking out for Yoohyeon. The casual ways she touched her sometimes and her little wink earlier that day. She realized something else.  
Not only was it okay that she had these feelings, but there was also reason to have hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the moment has finally come... sorry that this chapter is kind of all over the place, but feelings are also sometimes kind of all over the place and Yoohyeon's definitely are in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, please tell me what you think!!! I really appreciate feedback so much!!


	20. Chapter 20

Maybe sitting on bleachers and talking about their feelings was Bora and Siyeon’s thing now. They had just finished another dance practice. They had gotten most of the choreo down by now. Luckily, as there wasn’t that much time left ‘till the concert. There were only three more weeks and even though they had decided to start meeting Tuesdays and Fridays for dance practice and the rest of the week days for vocal practices, Siyeon wasn’t confident that they would be ready to perform in three weeks. She knew her parts well and she knew that she would give a good performance, she was just a bit nervous about the dancing and the duet. Even though ‘To the DJ’ and ‘Really Really’ scared her the most personally, she felt like those would be the best performances because of the effort that Bora had put into them and because they spent half of their time practicing for ‘To the DJ’. The other songs were still raw messes. They had barely practiced the Shawn Mendes song and the teacher still didn’t give up on the rap parts in ‘Only One for me’. Yoohyeon had said that she wanted to ask Yoobin, but nothing had happened yet.   
“How are things with Yoohyeon? Did she say anything else on Saturday?” Bora asked.   
“I think she is avoiding me, “ Siyeon told her. “Did you see how she just ran out of here? She definitely didn’t want to practice the duet with me. Because she is avoiding me. And on Saturday… we ate dinner together, but she barely said a word. I think your plan kind of backfired.”  
The older girl considered that for a moment. “I really thought it worked. She was looking at you with heart eyes on Saturday.”  
“I don’t think so. I think we got too close on Saturday and maybe she even noticed that I have a crush on her or something. That made her feel uncomfortable and now she is avoiding me. She’s barely looking into my eyes.” Siyeon tried not to sound too hurt by it, even though it did make her feel pretty bad. “Maybe I should apologize to her.”   
“I’m sorry that my plan didn’t work, I truly am. Maybe I should apologize to her? But we don’t even know if it is because she was uncomfortable on Saturday. Remember when she avoided you because of her parents? It could be something like that again.”  
“I don’t think so, this is different. Back then, she retreated completely, she didn’t even talk to Gahyeon. This time, she is acting completely normal, just not towards me. So yeah, I think this is about me. I’ll apologize to her today.”  
“Tell me how it goes.” They sat together in silence for a bit, before Bora remembered something. “Wait, I took a few pictures of you on Saturday.” She took out her phone and scrolled around for a bit, before she turned her phone to Siyeon. “You look like two idiots in love.”  
Siyeon took her time looking at the pictures. She hadn’t even noticed that Bora was taking pictures, she had been that focused on Yoohyeon. Most of them were completely blurry, but there were a few decent ones. On one, Siyeon had her eyes closed and her mouth opened, probably singing along, and Yoohyeon was looking at her with the cutest smile on her face. On another one, Siyeon was hugging Yoohyeon, her arm around her neck. Her own face wasn’t visible, but Yoohyeon seemed to be laughing about something. Then there was one where Yoohyeon was showing a heart to the camera and Siyeon was just looking at her like she was a work of art. She wanted all of those pictures tattooed onto her skin, but maybe that would be slightly awkward to explain if Yoohyeon would ever see them.   
“See? You look so cute together…” Bora sighed. “If Yoohyeon really was uncomfortable, she is good at hiding it. She looks just as whipped as you.”  
Siyeon gave her the phone back. “Send me those pictures. And maybe Yoohyeon only got uncomfortable at the end, when she realized how close we were… It’s possible. You know, when she stopped doing anything…”  
“I remember, but maybe she really did just forget about Gahyeon. I believe her. I want to believe her.” Bora took another look at the pictures herself. “Actually, there is something else I wanted to talk to you about.” She started, suddenly seeming kind of insecure. “I think I have an idea of how I could propose to Minji.”  
“I’m listening, “ Siyeon said.   
“I got inspired when I practiced the duet with you two. I said I was thinking about proposing at that park, right? But I realized that maybe that place only had that much meaning to me and not to her. Maybe she doesn’t even remember that we confessed and kissed there. We’ve never talked about it. I want the proposal to be somewhere that means a lot to her and me.”  
“I feel like you already got another place in mind… but don’t you want to reconsider the park?” Siyeon asked. “I think it would mean a lot to Minji to hear what you told us about it. She would love it because it is so meaningful to you. And I’m certain that she remembers it.”  
“I can take her there at another occasion. Maybe our next anniversary. I’m gonna propose to her at the place we first met.”  
“Didn’t you meet at our school? You have this beautiful and meaningful spot in a park and you’d rather propose at a fucking high school? I don’t understand.” Siyeon was shaking her head. “Don’t you associate bad memories with this building? Like… studying… and the pressure?”  
“Actually, I kind of miss going to school. Do you think I’d be here to help with the concert if I hated this school?”   
“And where exactly did you meet?” Siyeon had never heard about their first encounter. Bora had just randomly shown up in Minji’s stories one day, without much of an explanation as to how they met or got close.   
“In the auditorium. I was skipping school to see the auditions for the school concert because I was salty over not being chosen myself. Minji was auditioning. I was intrigued by her right away. She definitely gave the best performance that day, showed the most energy and she was the most talented student up there. But she didn’t get the solo and I thought that was unfair, so I voiced my opinion to the principal. We started talking because of that.” Bora had this loving expression on her face, as always when she talked about Minji.   
Siyeon hadn’t even known that Minji had auditioned back then. It wasn’t a secret that her sister had a beautiful singing voice, but she had never expressed the desire to show that on stage. “So… you are gonna take her here and propose in the auditorium?”  
“Well… she will be here already for the concert…”  
“You’re proposing to her during the concert?”   
Bora laughed a bit. “After the concert. I want it to be our moment, just us. I’m gonna sing the song she sang at the audition for her.”  
“That’s a cute plan. She’ll definitely cry.” Siyeon kind of wanted to see the proposal, but she understood that Bora wanted it to be between them.   
“Can you… can you practice singing with me a bit?” Bora asked, nervously shifting around.   
“Yeah. Of course. Just come to the apartment anytime, Yoohyeon would probably love to help as well.” Siyeon smiled at the older girl. “I’m so excited for you.”  
“Thank you, Siyeon. This isn’t weird for you or anything, right?”   
“It’s fine.” It was fine. Surprisingly fine. Her feelings for Bora had really just faded over the course of a few weeks. Now she could just be happy for the two of them without being jealous or hurt because of it.   
“I have to go now.” Bora stood up, gathering her things. “Talk to Yoohyeon, okay? There has to be another reason why she is avoiding you. Maybe she has fallen for you and is afraid you don’t like her back.”  
Siyeon couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, I’m sure she is head over heels for me.”

“Why are avoiding me?” she asked when Yoohyeon got home on Wednesday. Maybe that wasn’t the best approach to things, but she didn’t think she would do it if she didn’t get it over with right away.   
“What?” The younger girl asked, taking off her shoes and her coat. “Avoiding you?”  
“Yeah.” This had definitely been the worst approach possible. “Do you feel… uncomfortable because of Saturday? If so, I am truly sorry for making you feel that way.”  
Yoohyeon frowned as she walked into the living room, sitting down on the other end of the couch as Siyeon. “Why do you think I’m feeling uncomfortable?”  
“Because you’re avoiding me… and we did get really close on Saturday, and I just thought that maybe you didn’t like that, you know…” Siyeon was stuttering a bit now. Did that sound like she was saying that she liked it? Was that giving away her feelings for Yoohyeon? “We’re friends, you can tell me if I’m getting too close or anything.”  
“It’s okay, it didn’t make me uncomfortable. And maybe I did avoid you a bit… but not because of that, okay? I just…there is something I needed to think about.” Yoohyeon gave her a sad smile. “You’re not getting too close.”  
“Oh. You’re not trying to deal with things alone again, right? You can talk to me. Always, about anything. I’m right here.” Siyeon stood up and moved to Yoohyeon, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to carry the weight of the world alone.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “I know. Thank you so much. I’ve talked to Gahyeon about it and maybe I will tell you someday… but I’m not ready. I appreciate your concern, though.”  
Siyeon took her hand away again and smiled. “I’ll be here when… and if.. you’re ever ready to tell me.”

That evening, they ate dinner together again, actually talking to each other about things. Life, music, school. “Someone asked me today if we broke up because people don’t see as often as in the beginning, “ Yoohyeon told  her. “We’ve been kind of letting it slide since Bora and Minji know the truth. Should we just officially fake-break up or should we put in some more effort?”  
Siyeon didn’t like the idea of breaking up at all. She knew that it was all just fake, but she wanted to hold onto it for a bit longer. It was just too good of an excuse to get close to Yoohyeon. “The fake relationship is also covering up the fact that we are living together, right? So we shouldn’t break up just yet. Let’s put in some more effort.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. “True. Then let’s post something on Instagram. Do we have any cute pictures left?”  
Siyeon took her phone and scrolled through her gallery, when she saw the pictures Bora had taken on Saturday. They would be perfect for Instagram, they looked like an actual happy couple. She showed them to Yoohyeon.   
“Oh…” Yoohyeon looked at the pictures, her eyes glowing a bit. “These are so cute.” She paused for a moment. “Send them to me. But let’s not post them. We should take new pictures.”  
Siyeon was kind of relieved to hear her say that. Not every cute, real moment they had together had to be used for a fake Instagram post. Plus, taking pictures was always a great excuse to get close to Yoohyeon. “Let’s do that after dinner. Or tomorrow or something.”   
“Tomorrow’s good. We could stroll around the city after school for a bit. Visit some romantic spots.” Yoohyeon blushed a bit and looked away after saying that. “To take pictures for Instagram, “ she added, as if that needed any clarification.   
“Sure, “ Siyeon said, forcing herself to smile a little, even though talking about how fake their relationship hurt her heart. “We could go out to eat dinner after taking pictures.”  
“Sounds nice. Let’s do that.” Yoohyeon smiled back at her. “I love eating dinner with you.”  
Siyeon looked into the other girl’s eyes for maybe a second too long. Her face started to feel hot, so she quickly turned away, before quietly replying “Me too. A lot.”  
She wasn’t sure if Yoohyeon even heard it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this!! feedback is very much appreciated, as always


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2yoo talks...

“I have a question, “ Yoohyeon announced. She was sitting outside of the school with Yoobin, sharing the lunch her mother had made. It had been a while since they’d done that or even properly talked and Yoohyeon had missed her friend a lot.   
“Yeah, you can have the rest, “ Yoobin said with a grin, pushing the lunch box towards Yoohyeon.   
“That wasn’t my question, but thanks.” She pushed the box back again, but not without taking food out of it.   
“What is your question then?”   
“So… you know I’m part of the vocal group, right?”  
Yoobin rolled her eyes a bit. “Of course I do. Just ask your question.”  
“We don’t have a rapper and we kind of need one for that one song. The teacher wants to just cut the rap part, but that’s not necessary when I know a talented rapper like you. So, would you do me the favor and join us for that one song?” Yoohyeon asked.   
“Isn’t the concert in like, two weeks?” Yoobin frowned.   
“Yeah… But it’s just one song. We haven’t really practiced it a lot yet anyway. And it’s not hard, I promise. You know I don’t know a lot about rap, but I think you can get it down perfectly at the first try, “ Yoohyeon tried to persuade her.   
“What song?”  
“’Only One for me’ by BTOB. Come on, it’s just me, Gahyeon and Handong, it’ll be fun!”  
“No Siyeon?”  
“No Siyeon.” She didn’t know why that mattered. “Just us three. I want to perform with you, please, “ she begged, putting her hands around Yoobin’s arm, shaking it a bit.   
Yoobin was smiling now. “I’ll do it. It’ll be cool to be on stage with you.”  
“Yes! I’m excited.” Yoohyeon turned away and clapped her hands. “It will be great! Just come to the vocal practice on Monday, the teacher will be relieved to have a rapper.”  
“Sure.” Yoobin nodded. “I’m glad I can help you out.”  
There was a short moment of silence between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Yoohyeon liked the silences between them. There was no one to enjoy the quiet with like Yoobin, even though it was hard for Yoohyeon to keep quiet for long. She did appreciate the small moments though. Surprisingly, it was Yoobin who broke the silence this time. “Do you wanna hang out later? We could go to the book store. I need something new to read.”  
It had been a while since the two of them had gone to the book store together. They had done so frequently in the past. “I made plans with Siyeon today, sorry. But I’d love to go with you another time. Just don’t know when I’ll have time with work and practice and all.”  
An expression of disappointment hushed over Yoobin’s face. “You’re sharing an apartment, don’t you see each other enough as it is?”  
“We’re taking pictures for Insta-“ Yoohyeon said, before stopping herself. She had completely forgotten about the fact that Yoobin still thought the two of them were an actual couple. There was no real reason to keep the truth from Yoobin now, was there? She knew about them living together already. “-gram.”  
“What?” Yoobin asked, confused. “You really go on dates to take pictures for Instagram? Is that Siyeon’s doing? Does she want to show off her relationship on the internet that badly? Are you sure her feelings for you are real? Maybe she just sees you as her pretty and talented trophy girlfriend and is using you for the fame.”  
“Yoobin. She has more followers on Instagram then me, she won’t gain any fame through me. It would make no sense at all to use me for something like that.” Yoohyeon hesitated a moment. It was really time to just reveal the truth. "The thing is, we aren’t actually dating.”  
The other girl didn’t react at all, she just stared at the lunch box, before very slowly turning to Yoohyeon and blinking at her. “What did you say?” she whispered.   
“We aren’t actually dating. We just said that to hide the fact that we are living together.” Yoohyeon put a hand on her shoulder. “I should’ve told you earlier.”  
Yoobin shrugged away from her touch. She was avoiding looking at her and stayed silent for quite a while.   
“Are you okay? Sorry for lying to you, “ Yoohyeon said.   
“I’m just… “ Yoobin closed her eyes. “… trying to piece this together. I was so convinced that you two were a couple. I’m just going through all the moments in my head… you really aren’t dating?”  
“Yes. We’re just living together.”  
Yoobin shook her head. “That’s … something. You really made up all of that just to hide the fact that you’re living together? Was that necessary? You’re putting so much effort into this fake dating thing, letting in other people to spread lies and taking pictures for Instagram… why did you even bother? Wasn’t I kind of the only person that could’ve found out about it?”  
Yoohyeon was confused by her words. “What are you even saying? We made this up because of Minji and Bora for complicated reasons. They saw us several times at the apartment together.”  
“What? Isn’t Bora aware of all of this?”  
“Yeah, she is now… but she only found out the truth recently. How do you know?” Yoohyeon had absolutely no idea what was going on.   
“I don’t know… it was just that on that day when I found out you two lived together, Bora mentioned how cute you two were and how Siyeon had crushed on you in middle school, writing poems and all about you.”  
Yoohyeon couldn’t process what she was hearing. The way Yoobin had told her about it before had made it sound like Siyeon had been the one to say it. But if it really had been Bora… that would change everything. That would mean Siyeon had had an actual crush on Yoohyeon in middle school. “Are you sure that Bora was the one to talk about that? She really didn’t know that we weren’t dating at that point, I swear.”  
“Seems like Siyeon really did have a crush on you then, “ Yoobin shrugged. “I don’t know. I still can’t put all of this together.”  
Yoohyeon didn’t care about Yoobin’s confusion. “She had a crush on me in middle school, “ she repeated, not being able to contain a bright grin. “I can’t believe she had a crush on me when I used to hate her. I’m gonna have to ask her for those poems.” She immediately took out her phone to text Siyeon, but then she decided that she wanted to see the other girl’s face in real life when she found out that Yoohyeon knew the truth now. Maybe it wasn’t even the truth, maybe Yoobin had gotten things mixed up… But there was still voice of hope inside of Yoohyeon. If Siyeon liked her back then, then maybe there was a chance that she would like her now. After all, she had to have seen something in her that she liked and maybe that something was still there. Maybe not, but nevertheless, it was adorable that she used to crush on her and it was perfect teasing material.   
“So you two are just friends? But you’re living together? How did that happen?” Yoobin asked.   
Yoohyeon told her about the scam. “We had no other choice but to move in together. Now I think it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I would have gotten so lonely living alone. I enjoy having company and I especially enjoy her company. How could I ever think she wasn’t the most amazing person on this planet?”  
“I still can’t believe that you think so now. It’s still Lee Siyeon, “ Yoobin said, putting a strange emphasis on her name. “But this whole story makes more sense than you two falling in love. You’re just so… different.”  
“What are you trying to say?”   
“You’re so kind and bright. Really, you are the softest person I know. You are such a sunshine person. Siyeon is just the complete opposite. She walks around like she is better than everyone else and it just doesn’t fit to your light… she’s too dark for you.”  
She was definitely trying to say that Siyeon was a bad person. “Do you even know her? Have you ever really talked to her? First of all, she doesn’t walk around like she is better than everyone else. Just because she likes to keep to herself doesn’t mean she’s arrogant or something. And how is she ‘too dark’ for me? I don’t get it. What is that supposed to mean?”  
“I have spoken to her before, believe it or not, she is in some of my classes. Have I told you how rudely she turned down this one boy who was trying to ask her out? Or the story about her being absolutely mean to a substitute teacher. I swear that grown woman almost cried because of her rude comments. She never participates in class and then talks down to the teacher if they ever call on her. I had to do a group project with her once and tried to text her about it but she never replied to me, so I had to do it all by myself.” Yoobin was in a rage now, unlike anything Yoohyeon had ever seen from her. Normally, she was very calm and collected, but not this time. It made Yoohyeon herself even more upset.   
“Why are you hating on her so much now? I’ve never heard you say a bad word about Siyeon before today. I don’t know anything about her behavior in class, but I’m sure she has a reason for it or has grown since then. Trust me, I’ve spent enough time living together with her to know that she has a good heart. She’s so considerate and aware of the people around her. You’re talking shit about her without knowing one damn thing.”  
“Maybe I don’t know her, but do you? Just because you’ve been living together for, what, two months? She’s probably just nice to you because she needs that apartment, “ Yoobin kept at it, underlining her words with her hands.   
“Just stop!” Yoohyeon stood up. “You really don’t know anything. She isn’t just nice to me because of the apartment… we’re friends now. Actual, genuine friends. We didn’t live together because we wanted to, but there is no reason to be nice to each other. We spend a lot of time together because we like each other and get along well.”  
Yoobin sighed, reaching for Yoohyeon with her hands. Her voice was calm again when she spoke again. “I’m sorry for saying that. I was out of line.”  
The abrupt change in Yoobin’s behavior caught Yoohyeon off guard. “What?”  
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t know anything about Lee Siyeon or her relationship with you. I shouldn’t have said all those things, accusing her of using you…” Yoobin looked down on her hands. “I was wrong.”  
How did she change her mind so suddenly? Yoohyeon didn’t know how to react to that. “Okay…?”  
“I’m sorry, “ Yoobin repeated.   
“Why did you say all those things then?”  
The other girl stayed quiet for a moment, still looking at her hands. “I ju- I wanna protect you, that’s all. I’ve heard so many bad things about Siyeon, it’s just hard for me to believe that everyone’s that wrong about her. But if you say you know her, then I trust you. You probably know her better than anyone else at this school, so yeah. If she’s your friend, she’s probably a good person.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. She was still annoyed by all of this, but Yoobin had already apologized, so what more did she want? “She is a good person. I should get to class now. See you around, I guess.” She didn’t even bother waiting for an answer before she started walking away. She had had enough of this conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this chapter!! feedback is greatly appreciated, as always


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO DEAR READERS i have to bring to your attention that the lovely Seungheeing on Twitter has drawn absolutely wonderful close to you fanart and you should definitely check it out: https://twitter.com/Seungheeing/status/1087021510412378113 Plus, you should also check out her other art bc she is so talented! And her multifandom fic here, it's called We Free Few and I know it's gonna break my heart eventually but it's okay because it's great.

Yoohyeon was already waiting for Siyeon in front of the school after the last bell rang. She was typing something on her phone though, so she didn’t notice the older girl approaching. There was a slight frown on her face as her fingers furiously hit the phone and Siyeon couldn’t help but wonder who she was talking to.  
“Ready?” she asked her once she was standing in front of her.  
Yoohyeon looked up in surprise, quickly putting away her phone. “Sure. Should we go home and change? I don’t wanna take pictures in our school uniforms.”  
Siyeon immediately went into panic mode. What was she supposed to wear? She hadn’t even thought about changing clothes for the pictures. She wasn’t ready. Even though Yoohyeon saw her in her comfortable clothes at home or in her uniform at school all the time, she wanted to look good for her now. She knew perfectly well that this wasn’t a real date, but for some reason, it felt like a special occasion. A fake date was reason enough to dress up to try and impress Yoohyeon.  
On their way home, Yoohyeon started to rant about her teachers and school in general. “There’s so much to do till the concert, but now we got another big project that’s due the week after in biology, and there’s this presentation I have to do for my English class. When am I supposed to study Chinese or play some games? And the concert… We’re just not ready. We only have two weeks left…”  
“Did you talk to Yoobin yet? About the rap part?” Siyeon asked.  
Yoohyeon sighed. “I did. She said yes.”  
That didn’t sound very excited. “That’s good, isn’t it?”  
“Yeah, it is… it’s just that, “ Yoohyeon shook her head. “I don’t know. We had a small disagreement earlier. But it’s fine. By the way, she knows now. That we aren’t dating.”  
“But you didn’t fight about that, right?” Siyeon asked. She didn’t want Yoohyeon to suffer because of their fake relationship even more.  
Yoohyeon shook her head. “No, not really. Where are we getting dinner later? I was thinking seafood maybe, if you’re up for it?”  
Siyeon would have eaten for dinner if she could just spend some time with her, but she was genuinely craving seafood. “Sounds good. Let’s do that.”

Siyeon spent about twenty minutes carefully picking an outfit. In the end, it ended up being rather simple, she just went for her favorite pants and a nice shirt that matched the current color of her nails. When she finally got out her room, Yoohyeon was already waiting for her, wearing ripped jeans and a knit sweater. She looked so good. Siyeon didn’t even care that this was just a fake date anymore, she was the luckiest person on this planet to even get to experience that with Kim Yoohyeon.  
“Ready?” Yoohyeon asked, standing up. “Let’s go, then.”  
Outside of the apartment building, Yoohyeon suddenly grabbed Siyeon’s hand. “You know, uh, to make it look, you know, believable. Maybe someone will see us, “ Yoohyeon said, not looking at Siyeon.  
Siyeon’s heart was beating way too fast in her chest and she felt all warm. “Yeah… um, good idea.” They were holding hands. Actually holding hands. They had done it in school before, of course. But this time felt different, for some reason. It probably was just that Siyeon was completely in love with Yoohyeon now. It wasn’t just a small crush or fleeting feelings. She wanted to walk around holding hands with her all the time. It took her a while to calm down enough to form a coherent sentence. “Do you have a specific spot in mind?”  
“No, not really. I don’t know much about romantic spots, to be honest.” Yoohyeon laughed a bit. “But we’ll find some! It’s more exciting if we don’t know where we are going, don’t you think?”  
“Like a little city adventure, “ Siyeon said.  
“Yes! They could make a reality show out of this. Hunting romantic spots with Lee Siyeon and Kim Yoohyeon. We could travel to different cities and explore all of them and make money with it.”  
“It would be a huge hit, I’m sure.”  
They walked around the city for several hours and it was the most fun Siyeon ever had. The only time Yoohyeon let go of her hand was to take pictures of or with her or to let her take pictures of her. They filled up their phones with cute selfies, but also a whole bunch of weird selfies. While walking, they talked about everything and nothing. Siyeon told her about her life before she had met Minji, Yoohyeon told her funny childhood stories.  
It was already getting dark when they decided to stop and go eat lunch. Yoohyeon led her to her favorite seafood restaurant.  
“You know… I’d love to read those poems you wrote about me in middle school, “ Yoohyeon suddenly said after they had sat down at a table and ordered. “I’m sure they are adorable.”  
Siyeon almost fell out of her chair when she heard that. “What are you talking about?”  
“Things weren’t adding up with that middle school crush as part of our lie, “ Yoohyeon was grinning widely now. “Did you really crush on me in middle school?”  
Siyeon hid her face behind her hands. She couldn’t bear looking at Yoohyeon right now. How did she figure out that it was real? Of course she would never let it die down now and keep bothering her about it. As if it was the funniest thing in the world. As if Siyeon didn’t have feelings even more intense than that now.  
“You did. That’s so cute. It must have been hard though, I was always so rude to you.”  
If she didn’t have feelings for Yoohyeon again, would she still be that embarrassed about her knowing? Maybe she was acting too suspicious. She took a deep breath before lowering her hands and looking at the other girl. “You were. But I didn’t mind, I just wanted you to notice me in some way.”  
“That’s… desperate.”  
“Yeah. That was part of the reason I signed up for the solo, I wanted you to notice me.” Siyeon couldn’t believe she was telling her all that. There was no point in it, really. Yoohyeon didn’t have to know about this, she shouldn’t know this. She was just embarrassing herself even more.  
“Wait. You did that because of me?”  
“Yeah. I was the happiest girl alive when we got that duet together.” Siyeon knew very well how happy she had been. She had too many diary entries and poems from that time.  
“I hated you for it. I wanted that solo. I didn’t want to share my spotlight with you.” Yoohyeon was shaking her head now. “I can’t believe how different things were for us. Back then, I really thought you didn’t like me. I’m sorry for being a bitch to you back then.”  
“Don’t be.” Yes, Yoohyeon used to be rude to Siyeon and it had hurt a bit. However, Siyeon had also been mean to Yoohyeon at times. In middle school, she had be even worse at handling crushes than now.  
“Seriously though, I’d die to get to read these poems. I’m sure they’re the cutest thing ever.”  
“Stop talking about it. I don’t have them anymore, “ Siyeon lied. Yoohyeon couldn’t read them. Not if there were pieces like “Yoohyeon is so beautiful // and also very cool // I wanna kiss her cheek // because she is so sweet.” Or the several page long poem she had written about her smile. If anyone had a smile worth such a poem, it was Yoohyeon, but the poem was just pure cringe. All of them were.  
“You threw them away?” Yoohyeon looked genuinely disappointed.  
Siyeon couldn’t stand that expression. “Maybe I kept one or two. Maybe Minji has some.”  
She shouldn’t have said the last part. As soon as she dropped Minji’s name, Yoohyeon grinned, grabbed her phone and started typing. Siyeon hadn’t even known that Yoohyeon had her sister’s numbers. Would Minji expose her and send Yoohyeon some poems? Bora would do it without even thinking twice, but Minji might know better. Siyeon took her phone and told her over text not to do it under any circumstances.  
“By the way, how are things going with Bora’s proposal? Those two are really just the cutest.” Yoohyeon put her phone down again.  
“She’s gonna do it after the concert. She’s gonna sing for Minji, so we’ll have to practice with her a bit. Bora has a really beautiful voice, but she isn’t trained or anything so she wants some help to make it perfect for Minji. It’s so sweet.”  
“What is she singing?”  
“The song Minji sang at the audition for the school concert. They met there. I… honestly, I don’t know what song it is, “ Siyeon admitted.  
“It sounds so romantic. Like the perfect proposal.” Yoohyeon had a dreamy smile on her face. “I want to be proposed to like that.”  
“I would have preferred the park. You know, where they kissed for the first time? It’s a meaningful place to Bora and if someone showed me something like that at the proposal… I would just break down crying from being so touched.”  
“That’s also cute, but still. No one’s ever sung anything on stage before for me, but I’m sure it’s intense to experience that. And the other person is putting themselves right out there with the singing… I think that’s really touching.”  
Siyeon hated her mind for imagining what it would be like if she proposed to Yoohyeon. It would be perfect on stage, she could do the song and the dance from their duet in middle school, then a bit of ‘Really Really’. Actually… she could confess her feelings like that. Not that she was planning on doing that soon, but sometime in the future. When they weren’t living together anymore or maybe if she got some sort of sign from Yoohyeon. But looking at Yoohyeon sitting opposite her, that smile on her face, really made her want to do it. She wanted to touch Yoohyeon like that and make her smile. She wanted to make her happy in that way.  
Should she actually do it, confess her feelings to Yoohyeon? It was a big risk. If she rejected her, everything would be awkward, especially living together. That wasn’t even the worst because she knew she would always be welcome at Minji’s place again. It was just that Yoohyeon couldn’t afford rent on her own and she didn’t have anyone else left and maybe her rejection would also change her relationship with Minji and Bora and Siyeon really didn’t want that. So much could go wrong. Confessing her feelings could really just destroy everything.  
There was tiny chance that she wouldn’t reject her. Maybe she returned her feelings, then they both could be happy together. Maybe she didn’t, but they would talk it out and be friends and Siyeon would feel lighter after telling her. Maybe Siyeon should just stop being a coward and own up to her feelings. There were so many possibilities and no way to know what would happen. She just had to be strong and she would get through any possible reaction, right?  
Yoohyeon was looking at her phone again and in a weak and not very thought through moment, Siyeon made a deal with herself. If Yoohyeon looked up in the next ten seconds and smiled at her, she would confess her feelings right after the concert, singing a song for her. At home, because it was Bora’s time to shine at school. She would get a cheap mic or something and sing a cheesy song for her. Only if she looked up in the next ten seconds, though.  
Siyeon held her breath while she stared at the girl opposite of her. She counted the seconds in her head.  
...1, 2, 3, 4…  
Yoohyeon was typing something on her phone.  
…5, 6, 7…  
She brushed away a strand of her hair, eyes still fixed on the phone.  
…8…  
Yoohyeon looked up, giving Siyeon the brightest smile. “Minji is gonna send the poems to me later.”  
Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! sorry if there are a lot of mistakes i gotta be honest i didnt even bother proofreading this IM SORRY


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a messy chapter... trying to pick up a few of the loose ends ooops hope you enjoy it anyway!!! plus i have decided that it will only be two more chapters + jibo special + epilogue... so yeah, it'll finish in February.

Yoohyeon barely saw Siyeon in the following week. She was almost never at home, either being at work or, apparently, hanging out with Bora. The relationship between the two of them had changed so much over the past few weeks, going from Siyeon completely avoiding Bora to them meeting every day. They were practicing the song for Bora’s proposal next week, but Yoohyeon was sure they would also hang out a lot without that excuse. Siyeon always got home to eat dinner with Yoohyeon though, and she couldn’t deny that that made her heart beat faster.   
“You know, “ Gahyeon said one afternoon. She had come over to practice for the concert together, but they weren’t being too productive. “You seem pretty happy lately.”  
Yoohyeon couldn’t help but smile because she did feel happy. Yes, she had her downs and sometimes all the shit with her parents hit her again, but for some reason, her general mood was rather happy, despite all the late nights studying and all the practices for the concert. “Do I?”  
“Yeah. I don’t know, it’s not only because you’re in love with Siyeon. I think just living here, without your parents, sharing this apartment with a person like Siyeon… I feel like it took some weight of your shoulders. You don’t look like a walking zombie every day at school anymore, you look like you actually sleep at night. You seem more confident, I don’t know. Does that make sense?”  
Now that she thought about it… she did have very little trouble sleeping since she had moved in. It was easier getting out of bed in the morning. She liked the freedom that came with living alone. Maybe it really did have a positive influence on her and her attitude. “It does make sense. A lot, actually.” It was hard to admit that her life was better without her parents in it. They had been in her life since the day that she was born, had raised her and taken care of her. They had never done her any harm, had they? Yeah, they were homophobic, but they used to really love her, right? “I just… I don’t know, is it a bad thing that my life is better without my parents? I’m still their child.”  
“What?” Gahyeon shook her head and took Yoohyeon’s hand. “Just because they set you into this world doesn’t mean that you owe them anything. As soon as they found out you were gay, they treated you like shit. You’re happier now that they are gone and that’s okay. Don’t feel bad for being happy, babe.”  
“I’ll try not to, “ Yoohyeon said. “Now, let’s practice the BTOB song.”

On Friday, Handong invited Yoohyeon to have lunch with her. It’s been a while since the two of them had exchanged more than a few sentences, but Yoohyeon did have the feeling that Handong had actively been avoiding longer conversations with her.   
“Are you ready for your solo?” she asked the older girl when they were both sitting down in the school cafeteria, their lunch in front of them.   
“Yeah. I know the song well, so I’m sure I will be able to give a good performance.” Handong smiled at her. “How are things going with the duet?”  
“All good. We practiced a lot.” That wasn’t wrong. They had spent hours at home going through the choreo and singing the song, giving each other feedback, working on the small details. It was definitely the song Yoohyeon had the most confidence in, and the song she had had the most fun practicing. Well, mostly because of her partner.   
“I’m glad.” There was a moment of awkward silence. “I’m leaving Korea the Monday after the concert, “ Handong suddenly announced.   
“What? That’s so soon.” Yoohyeon hadn’t thought about the fact that Handong would leave after the concert. She had just assumed she would stay in Korea because she had said that musicals were the real reason she was here.  “We should all go out to eat on the weekend then, the whole vocal team. A goodbye party for our wonderful soloist.”  
“That’s sweet of you to say, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to make a big deal out of it. I will say my goodbyes after the concert.”  
“Will you ever return to Korea?” Yoohyeon asked.   
“Maybe. I’m not sure. I’m going to spend some time with my family and then figure out my next step. I realized that maybe my real dream is to become a singer, not being a musical actress. The vocal group helped me figure that out.”  
“It’s good to hear that your time with us helped you find your real dream. I’m rooting for you and I will support you no matter what.”  
“Thank you. You’re so cute. Let’s keep in touch, okay? Maybe we will meet again in the future.” Handong smiled at Yoohyeon, but there was something sad about it.   
“Maybe? Of course we are going to meet! You’re my friend now, we will find a way.” Yoohyeon was optimistic that she was right.   
“Anyways, I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me in the past few weeks. You made all of this so much easier for me. It was so comforting to be able to talk Chinese with someone and you helped me so much with my Korean. I appreciate it a lot. I wouldn’t be able to perform next week if it wasn’t for you.”  
“You’re welcome.” Yoohyeon looked at her phone. “I have to go, I have to meet my boss soon.” Her boss had rarely ever contacted her after her panic attack at her first day at work. At first, Yoohyeon had thought that that was because of the panic attack and that she would never work there again, but then her boss texted her asking her if she was feeling better. Yoohyeon suspected that Minji had used her connections to put in a good word for her. Her boss was booked for a big birthday party later and had offered Yoohyeon to come along if it was up for it. She was really lucky to have such a considerate boss. Someone else would have just kicked her out straight away.   
Handong stood up and pulled Yoohyeon into a long hug. “Take care of yourself and rest a lot before next week, “ she mumbled into her shoulder.   
“You too, “ Yoohyeon said. This felt like a goodbye, even though they would see each other again almost every day for practice till the next Friday. But this would probably be their last longer conversation for a while. “Thank you too, Handong. You helped me just as much as I helped you.”  
“How?” Handong leaned a bit back and looked at Yoohyeon’s face.   
“You made me happy, “ Yoohyeon got out of the hug, looking at the time again. She waved at the other girl one more time before she quickly made her way to work.   
Handong whispered something after her, but Yoohyeon was already too far away to hear it.

“Can I come in? I think I have to tell you something.”  
It was Saturday morning, Yoohyeon was home alone and had actually planned to use that time to study. She wasn’t sure whether Siyeon was working or with Bora, but she only worked on Saturdays when she took over her coworkers shift, so it was probably the latter.   
And now Yoobin was standing in front of the door. Something was up, Yoohyeon could sense it straight away. She just didn’t know what.   
After their fight a week ago, they hadn’t really talked things out. Yoobin did come to their vocal practice on Monday and the teacher asked her to try the rap. He was blown away by her skills and he couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the lesson. Yoobin and Yoohyeon had exchanged a few encouraging words and greetings during their practices together, but that had been it. Maybe Yoobin was here to talk about it so things would be less awkward.   
“Come in, “ Yoohyeon said, already walking towards the living room.   
“Is Siyeon here?” Yoobin asked.   
“Don’t worry, she’s out.”  
“Good. I wanted to talk to you about something, just the two of us.”   
Yoohyeon sat down on the couch, expectantly looking at her childhood friend. “Then talk.”  
Yoobin took a deep breath, still standing in the middle of the room. “I’m sorry. I upset you so many times over the past few weeks and I honestly feel so bad for it. I was careless, I said some stupid things and caused you harm. I truly am sorry for all of it. Things are awkward now between us, have been for a while. And I just want to be completely honest with you because maybe then we can go back to how our friendship used to be.”  
Yoohyeon nodded. She had no idea what Yoobin was about to say, but honesty in a friendship was always important and she always appreciated it.   
“I have feelings for you.”  
That came out of the blue for Yoohyeon. Yoobin had always been like a sister for her, they had grown up together after all. She had no clue that maybe Yoobin saw things differently than her. “You do what?”  
“I am in love with you, Yoohyeon. I have been for years. You are so important to me and I don’t ever wanna lose you and I was so scared that I would if I ever told you about it. So I didn’t. I thought those feelings might eventually fade away. They didn’t. I just grew content with loving you as a friend, but I got so jealous when I heard you are dating Siyeon. And then I find out that you are living together and … The jealousy was overwhelming, but I tried to suppress it. I had hope again though, after you revealed that your relationship was not real. That hope was crushed quickly when I heard the way you talk about her. You’re in love with her, right?”  
Yoohyeon could just nod. Where was all of this coming from? And… was it that easy to figure out her feelings for Siyeon? Was she being that obvious?  
“I knew it. When I realized that… I don’t know, the jealousy got the best of me and I said some rude things about her. I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends after this. Maybe talking about it to you will help me move on from it.” Yoobin still wasn’t looking at her, her eyes were fixed on the floor.   
“Thank you for telling me?” Yoohyeon was unsure of what to say. “This won’t change anything, okay? We can still be friends. Tell me if you want a bit of space to get over it?”  
“It’s fine, I don’t think space is of help in this situation.”   
“Just tell me what works for you. I don’t wanna lose you as a friend either.” Yoohyeon stood up and walked over to Yoobin. That finally got the other girl to lift her head and look at her. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.”

After Yoobin’s confession, Yoohyeon thought about how brave she had been. It had taken her years to admit her feelings, sure, but she had done it now. And they would both get over it. It was possible that things would be a bit awkward between them for a while, but Yoohyeon would optimistic that their year old friendship would be strong enough to survive an awkward phase. Yoobin was probably right, now that they had talked about it, things between them would probably even be better than before. The exact same thing had happened with Siyeon and Bora, just that their situation might have been even more intense, with Bora dating Minji and all of them living together. Just like Yoobin, it had taken Siyeon quite some time to talk about her feelings with Bora, but after she had finally done so, things were significantly better between them now.   
So maybe Yoohyeon shouldn’t make the same mistake both of them had done and wait and suffer for months and years. Hell, if she confessed to Siyeon, there was even a chance that she would feel the same way about it. After all, she wasn’t dating anyone and had never expressed any feelings towards anyone, besides Bora, but she seemed to be over her now. And even if she didn’t return her feelings, it would be alright. Things would be awkward for a bit, but they would settle after a while.   
It was time to stop being a coward and do it. And next week was the perfect opportunity to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what you think!!!


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... it's time....

“I’m gonna die, “ Bora said, one hand on her heart. “I really am going to die.”  
“Calm down, “ Siyeon responded softly. They were behind the stage of the school auditorium, the whole vocal team anxiously waiting for their performance. Gahyeon and Yoohyeon were whispering over something in one corner of the room, Handong was going over her lyrics again, Yoobin was talking to the other two girls. Bora had helped them all with their hair and make-up. After two months of preparing, the day of the concert had finally come.   
“How are you so calm? You’re going to sing in front of hundreds of people. I’m only going to sing in front of the love of my life… Oh my god, I’m going to sing in front of the love of my life. She’ll hate it. She’ll absolutely hate me after it.” Bora’s nervous rambling had been going on the whole day. Earlier, during their sound check, it had been the exact same thing. Siyeon couldn’t bear to listen to it much longer.   
“It’s going to be fine. Minji will love it. First of all because she loves you so much and second of all because you are really talented, okay? Your voice is beautiful. The song choice is… not that fitting, but it’s important to you two. She’ll love it because it’s cute and meaningful and because it’s you.”  
Bora nodded weakly. “What if I make a mistake? I will be too nervous to sing.”  
“It’s fine. We’ve practiced so much, you’re going to do just fine.” Siyeon gave her an encouraging smile. The two of them had spent an awful lot of time together over the past few weeks, preparing Bora’s proposal as number one priority, Siyeon’s confession as second priority and if they found time for it, they went over the vocal group songs and the choreo for it together. Siyeon was confident about the songs, she had practiced a lot, alone and with the others, and she knew that she was a good performer. Once she was standing on stage, she forgot all about the hundreds of people watching and maybe judging her and just sang. The confession sparked a bit more anxiety in her, but she managed to push it to the back of her head for now.   
Practice for the concert had been intense over the past few days. They had gone through the whole set list for the first time on Tuesday and it had been a whole mess. They fucked up several parts of the ‘To the DJ’ choreo and some of them had troubles focusing on singing and dancing, even though they had practiced that a lot. ‘There’s nothin’ holding me back’ had been fine compared to that, but the teacher still found many flaws to correct. He thought the stage was ‘too stiff’ and not ‘enjoyable’ enough. Bora had tried to give them some tips on how to achieve that, but the teacher still had criticized the same thing during their rehearsal earlier that day. Siyeon’s personal highlight was ‘Only One for me’ because she was able to watch Yoohyeon perform and be happy. The group of four had a great chemistry with each other and that was very noticeable. It was easy to see that they were actually having fun on stage.   
Yoohyeon had told Siyeon about Yoobin’s feelings for her on Friday during dinner. Siyeon didn’t really know Yoobin, but she still felt bad when a wave of relief washed over her after Yoohyeon said that she was like a sister for her. She was glad that things between them seemed to be better now, even though Yoohyeon had mentioned that it was a bit awkward. But the fact that Yoohyeon dealt with Yoobin’s feelings for her so well gave Siyeon hope that her reaction after the confession wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe a bit awkward, but they would still be able to be friends and live together.   
Siyeon had heard Handong’s solo for the first time during that rehearsal on Tuesday. It was really beautiful and Siyeon understood now why they had given the solo to Handong. Her voice was the voice of an angel. Maybe it was because she was singing in her own language, but she sounded more confident when singing her solo compared to the other songs. Her stage presence was also no joke, she knew how to use the space on stage just the right away. Even though she looked tiny on that giant stage, it didn’t look empty. Handong had revealed her departure to them right after that solo. Siyeon actually was a bit sad because she felt like maybe she and Handong could have become friends eventually. The vocal team had prepared a little goodbye gift to thank her for her hard work that they would give to her after the concert. Siyeon would bet money on half of them, especially Handong, Gahyeon and Yoohyeon, crying later. Maybe she hadn’t chosen the right evening for her confession… but she wouldn’t pull back now.   
The duet came right before the solo, in the middle of their set. Siyeon and Yoohyeon had spent hours practicing it, way more than necessary. It was a good excuse to spend time, though, so Siyeon had often faked being insecure about it just to get Yoohyeon to practice with her. They had danced to it every night in their apartment over the last few days. Mostly, it had ended in a lot of laughter because one of them always ended up doing something stupid, but those were the best moments. Siyeon had never felt lighter than during the time she had spent lying on the floor next to Yoohyeon, both almost crying because of their laughter. She was so completely in love with the other girl and everything she did. Her confession after the concert was all planned out, everything was ready in her room. The plan depended on Yoohyeon going into her room to change or something because Siyeon needed some time to set everything up in the living room, but she would ask Gahyeon to call and distract Yoohyeon if necessary. The excitement was already running through her veins. It could all end up so badly, but it could also become the best evening of her life.   
“Girls! Are you ready? The orchestra will be finished soon and then it’s our turn.” The teacher was the most anxious person in the room, not counting Bora, who was nervous because of a whole different reason. He was pacing around the room now, checking up on each of them individually. “The audience is so full. I think that’s the most people that ever came to our school concert.”  
Siyeon got down from the table she had been sitting on and walked over to Yoohyeon. “Are you ready to rock the stage together again?”  
“What do you think?” Yoohyeon gave her the brightest smile. “I am more than ready. Let’s kill it.”  
  
 ~~~~

* * *

Yoohyeon was ready. Afraid, but also ready.   
Not only for the concert, but also what would come after. She had come up with a good way to confess to Siyeon and gone over the plan with Gahyeon several times. As far as Yoohyeon had taken from their conversation about proposals, Siyeon wanted something personal, she wanted the other person to show vulnerability. So Yoohyeon had given her best to make her confession just that. She didn’t want to go over the top because it was not a proposal, after all – or, to say it in Gahyeon’s words, ‘because she was a coward’ – she poured all her soul into a letter. The highlight of the letter was the poem that she had written about her feelings for Siyeon. She was a bit insecure about it because she really was making herself vulnerable with that letter and the poem and maybe it had been a stupid idea to do it with a letter anyway… but Gahyeon had encouraged her to do it and so she was going to do it like that. She would slip them under Siyeon’s door after the concert. Yes, that was probably pretty cowardly, but it was the way Yoohyeon felt most comfortable with.   
They were standing behind the curtain now, waiting for their sign to go on stage. Gahyeon was holding onto her hand, almost pushing it hard enough to make it hurt. A younger student handed all of them their mics, before finally, a teacher told them that it was time.   
The stage was dark as they walked onto it. As soon as she got into position, mic in her hand, a weird calm overcame Yoohyeon. She got this. She had practiced hard for this moment. She got this.   
‘There’s nothing holding me back’ went by in a flash. Yoohyeon didn’t think, she just sang, and with every note leaving her mouth, she knew that this was her best performance of the song. Her eyes always found Siyeon again and she felt the song deeply. One time, Siyeon’s and her eyes met on stage, right during Yoohyeon’s bridge part. They looked at each other a big too long for it to not have a meaning. Yoohyeon felt like she was singing right to Siyeon. When Siyeon’s chorus part came on, Yoohyeon suddenly felt a hand on her back, only to notice that Siyeon had somehow made her way all over the stage just to stand beside of her. Yoohyeon almost missed her next line, but she caught herself in the last moment. Her heart was beating way too fast because of that small little touch, but luckily, the song ended soon and the light went out again.   
The cheers of the people rang loud in Yoohyeon’s ears, but there was no time to enjoy it, because they wanted a rather smooth transition to the next song, ‘Only One for me’. Half of the vocal group quickly left the stage while the four of them were getting ready.   
Gahyeon gave a Yoohyeon an ecstatic thumps-up, right before the lights went on again and their performance started. Since Yoobin had joined the line-up for the song, they didn’t have any major problems with it. The teacher had been satisfied and practicing it had always been a lot of fun. The best thing about the song for Yoohyeon was how much Gahyeon was shining. Performing with her best friend made her unbelievably happy. She almost teared up on stage when the song started, Gahyeon singing the first few lines. She was so proud of her best friend and so thankful to have her. There was no one else like her in the world.   
The song went over without major mistakes. Gahyeon randomly started laughing at one point though, right during her own part, and then Yoohyeon had to laugh, but it was okay. When she song ended, Yoohyeon ran and wrapped her arms about her best friend. “I love you so much, “ she whispered into her ear.   
“I love you too, “ Gahyeon said, hugging her tightly. “Go get your girl, babe.” She winked at her and pulled back again, putting her arms around Handong and Yoobin, guiding them off stage. Only then did it hit Yoohyeon that next up was the duet.   
Siyeon walked onto stage with a bright smile on her face, looking calm and confident. They got into position, each on their side of the stage. Bora had come up with a concept where they were gradually moving closer throughout the song, until they were really close to each other – too close to each other. Yoohyeon knew now what Bora had meant when she had said they had to get a feeling for the song and understand it. She got the giddy feeling of confessing to your crush because she was going to do it later that day. And now she would sing a duet with her on stage about confessing your love to your crush.   
Yoohyeon barely noticed anything of the song because she was so caught up in her thoughts and Siyeon. It went by in a few seconds, seconds of staring at Siyeon, looking her right into the eyes, touching her, dancing with her. It went by like some sort of dream, feeling completely unreal. Siyeon winked at her again during the chorus and it gave Yoohyeon’s flashback of the moment when she realized that she had feelings for the other girl.   
The song ended as quickly as it started. Siyeon grabbed Yoohyeon’s hand, pulling her off stage. Her mind was still in another world. “That was so good!” Siyeon said when they were behind the curtain again. “That was our best performance yet.” She was laughing loudly and Yoohyeon couldn’t help but join in, still holding onto the other girl’s hand.   
Bora came running towards them, pulling them into a tight hug. “That was incredible. Your energy… it was no joke. It was so fun to watch and everyone around me couldn’t stop smiling. I’m so proud of you two.”  
Yoohyeon heard the music of Handong’s solo start, so she slowly wriggled out of Bora’s hug, as much as she enjoyed it. “I wanna watch her.”  
Siyeon nodded in agreement. “It’s gonna be so amazing.”  
Bora led them towards a spot directly behind the curtain, perfect for watching what was going on on stage without being seen from the audience.   
Handong was standing in the middle of the stage, a singular spotlight shining on her. She looked like an angel from behind and probably even more so from the front. When she started singing, her voice completely mesmerized Yoohyeon once again. It was so beautiful and Handong looked so natural and comfortable on stage, like she had been born to perform. Her power was incredible.   
“She really deserves this, “ Siyeon whispered.   
Yoohyeon nodded with a smile. She would miss the Chinese girl. Even though they had promised each other to text and meet up sometime again, she had written a goodbye letter for her. They all had, as part of their goodbye present. Yoohyeon teared up a bit now, hearing Handong sing. “I will miss her.”   
“We all will.”  
After the solo ended, it was time for the big finale. Even though they had spent the most time practicing ‘To the DJ’, this was the song Yoohyeon had felt the least connected to. Nevertheless, she always enjoyed singing and dancing to it, it was a beautiful song and it really was the perfect way to end all of this. She was already exhausted from the previous performances, but when the first chord played, a new wave of energy flowed through her body.   
They didn’t get through the whole song without mistakes. They weren’t at sync at parts, messed up some of the steps, but Yoohyeon felt like their energy made up for it. The audience was clapping and singing along the whole time. Their vocals were stable, considering that they were singing and dancing together, and despite the mistakes, the dance would still look good. At least Yoohyeon hoped so. The dance break went by without mistakes. Before Yoohyeon could really realize it, they were singing the ending part, the audience loudly singing along. After the song ended, the vocal group still in their ending pose, the cheers of the audience rang loudly in Yoohyeon’s ears.   
That was it. The concert was over. Yoohyeon couldn’t help but tear up yet again when they all bowed in front of the audience before getting into a big group hug. She was so thankful that she had got to do that with those girls. That moment made her realize that maybe she wanted to that for the rest of her life. Stand on stage and sing with others. Maybe she was meant to be part of a group, not a soloist. She loved having her solos, of course she did, but looking back, she wouldn’t change how things went down. She wouldn’t choose her solo over the group.   
It had been truly exceptional.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you may have noticed, the fic is about to end. this week, there is going to be a special jibo update, next Saturday I'll post the last chapter and then the epilogue on Sunday and then that's it... hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! please tell me what you think, I appreciate feedback a lot.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JIBO PROPOSAL SPECIAL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! Enjoy this little special update with Jibo. I love them both so much omg so I had to write the proposal. Hope you enjoy!

“That was incredible! You did a great job with the choreo. I’m so proud of you.” Minji gave Bora a flower she had bought on her way to the school and softly kissed her cheek. Even though Bora had already shown her most of the choreo, it was something entirely different to see it performed by a group on stage. It was incredible how Bora had managed to come up with such a simple yet mesmerizing choreo that was easy enough for the inexperienced students to learn but still looked somehow complicated. Minji knew that Bora also gave them other tips on performing and it really showed.   
“Thank you.” Bora blushed a bit. “The group did a good job.”  
“Yeah! Siyeon and Yoohyeon absolutely killed it.” Minji almost cried during their duet. Seeing her little sister that happy, performing on stage like a pro, made her feel too many things. It had taken Minji weeks to convince Siyeon to sing for her back when they had first met and she had come so far since then. Her talent and her hard work had brought her here, performing confidently on stage now. “Should we treat them to dinner to celebrate?”  
“They have different plans. Siyeon’s going to confess to Yoohyeon now.” Bora smiled. “I’ve been helping her plan it all week.”  
“She’s actually gonna confess?” Minji was so happy for Siyeon. From what Bora had told her, it seemed like Yoohyeon was just as in love with Siyeon as she was. And the way she looked at Siyeon today on stage did look like it. The two girls deserved nothing more than to be happy together.   
“Yeah. So, let’s enjoy a nice evening, just the two of us, okay?” Bora looked at her phone. “I promised the teachers to help cleaning up, so can you wait for me? I’ll be done in half an hour.”  
“I can help with cleaning up, “ Minji suggested. “I don’t mind.”  
“No!” Bora exclaimed, a bit too quickly. “Absolutely not. Just sit down in the audience and wait for me.”  
Minji was a bit irritated as to why she couldn’t just help. Usually, they always did the work together. And it didn’t make sense for Minji to just sit around and wait when they would be finished sooner with her help. “Really, I don’t mind helping.”  
Siyeon stepped to them, grinning as if she knew something Minji didn’t. “Actually, the teacher asked me and Yoohyeon to go through the audience seats and pick up the programs people left behind. You could do it, if you want. Then we could go home and rest.”  
“Siyeon, it literally takes like five minutes, we can do it, “ Yoohyeon said. “We don’t have any other plans anyway.”  
“Yes! I’ll do it.” Minji pushed Siyeon a bit. “I’m proud of you two, by the way. Good job. Now go home. We could eat dinner together tomorrow to celebrate?”  
“Sure, “ Siyeon said. “Text me the details.”  
After the two of them were gone, Bora and Minji shared a small smile. “I’ll guess I’ll get to work then, “ Minji said.   
“Just wait in the auditorium when you’re done.”  
Yoohyeon hadn’t been wrong. It didn’t even take Minji five minutes to clean up the programs. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with them, so she just put them on a seat in the front row and sat down next to them. There were still a few people in the auditorium. Students carrying around their instruments, parents complimenting their children, teachers standing around in groups. Minji took out her phone to distract herself while waiting. She opened up the note document she had where she was writing down ideas on how to propose to Bora. So far, she had only come up with one place to do it and it was the place where they first kissed and confessed their feelings to each other. They had never been there after that, but Minji sometimes went alone. It was a calming, comforting place. When life got too much, she could go there and remember what was truly important. She knew that Bora would love going back to that place. But was it the perfect place to propose? It was personal and beautiful, not too many people went there… just what if Bora would rather have something bigger? Was going there to simple? She tried to figure out another way to propose, but she couldn’t think of anything. So instead, she wrote down some ideas on what she could say to her.   
Time flew by like that until Minji eventually realized that she was all alone in the auditorium. There was no one else around anymore and she started to wonder how much longer it would take Bora to finish, when suddenly, a loud feedback noise filled the room.   
“Oh shit, “ someone cursed on the dark stage, sounding suspiciously like Kim Bora. “What did I do wrong?”  
“FIXED IT!” Someone yelled from somewhere behind Minji. She didn’t recognize the voice. What was happening?”  
“Gahyeon, the light, “ Bora said into the mic. “You had one job.”  
“SORRY. I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SHIT. I’M DOING MY BEST.” A single spotlight lit up the stage, shining right onto Bora, who was standing in the middle of the stage, mic in her hand.   
She had changed her outfit to a white suit, her hair now openly falling over her shoulders. She looked like an angel. There had never been a moment in which she had looked more beautiful than this. What was happening? Why had she changed her outfit? What was she doing?  
“THE MUSIC!” Bora yelled.   
“YEAH I’M WORKING ON IT, “ Gahyeon responded, when out of nowhere, the first notes of a very familiar song started playing.   
It was the song Minji had sung back at her audition for the school concert. She still remembered Bora standing up for her when she hadn’t won. It was the first time she had noticed the other girl. She had been intrigued by her since right from the start.   
Bora looked at Minji throughout the whole song. Her voice was the most beautiful thing on this planet and she looked so good standing on stage, singing to her. At the end of the song, Minji couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. The lyrics were sad, but she knew that that wasn’t what Bora was trying to tell her. This was her way of telling her how much she loved her. Maybe Minji was the luckiest human on this planet.

* * *

 

Even though the start was rather rocky due to their technical difficulties, Bora managed to get through the song without messing up. She had practiced a lot with Siyeon and the younger girl had given her a lot of tips on how to improve. The end result sounded genuinely good and Bora was proud of how far she had come.   
She noticed that Minji was wiping away tears at the end of the song. When she finished, she stood up and clapped loudly.   
“Thank you. I am Kim Bora and I am auditioning for the role of your wife. I hope you will consider me for the position.” Bora bowed a little, blinking away the tears in her eyes. Her girlfriend didn’t react, just staring at her, so she continued talking, freely saying everything she wanted to tell her. “That was the song you sang on the day we first met, do you remember?” she asked. Minji only nodded weakly. Seeing her crying made it even harder for Bora to hold back her own tears. “Maybe I fell completely in love with you right when I first heard your voice. You are so beautiful, inside and out. You make me happy in so, so many ways. I’m not lying when I say that you are the best thing to ever happen to me. You bring so much light and warmth into my life. Thank you for never leaving me. Thank you for every smile, every laugh, every kiss. Kim Minji, you are the love of my life. I want to be with you forever.” She couldn’t hold back anymore, tears were streaming down her face now. She left the mic behind on stage and took the few steps down to the audience room, stopping right in front of her girlfriend. “I know we haven’t been with each other for that long, I know we are still young. But I feel like we two are meant to be together.”  
Minji was crying even more now, when she saw Bora getting down on her knees in front of her, getting the ring out of her pocket.    
“Will you marry me?” she asked softly. There were so many more things she had planned on saying in her little speech but had forgotten, but if Minji would say yes now, she would have much more time to tell her all of that.   
“Wife, “ Minji said between her sobs.   
“Is that a … yes?” Bora asked carefully.   
“Yes.” Minji got down to Bora, hugging her tightly. “Yes.”  
The two of them were crying and laughing at the same time now, holding on to each other. “I love you so much, “ she whispered into Minji’s shoulder.   
“I love you too.”

One hour later, they were walking through the city, holding hands. Gahyeon had volunteered to take care of the auditorium so the two of them could enjoy their evening, and Minji had told Bora that she wanted to take her somewhere.   
“Where are we going?” she asked.   
“It’s a surprise.”  
Bora recognized their surroundings soon. Was it possible… was Minji really taking her to the park? “You remember it?”  
“Of course I do.”  
Once they reached it, they sat down on the bench where they first kissed. “Actually, I wanted to propose to you soon too…” Minji admitted. “Right here. I have the ring at home already…”  
Bora couldn’t help but laugh from all the happiness inside of her. Minji wanted to propose to her too, right at the place where she considered proposing at first. “I wanted to propose here at first too, but I wasn’t sure whether you remembered it.”  
“Of course I do! It was one of the best moments of my life. I sometimes come here to find comfort.”  
“Shut up, me too.” Bora gave Minji’s hand a push. “We were really made for each other, huh?”  
“Yes.” Minji put her head on Bora’s shoulder, looking at their intertwined fingers and the ring on her hand. “We’ll have to work hard if we want our wedding to be the best day of our life because this is hard to top.”  
“Every moment with you is the best of my life, “ Bora said. “I’ll love our wedding no matter what. All that matters is that we have each other and that I finally get to call you my wife.”  
Minji put their hands to her chest. “And I’ll love you forever, no matter what.”  
That was enough to make Bora start crying again. She really was the luckiest human on this planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think, I appreciate feedback a lot!


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ik this chapter doesn't live up to its full potential and may be a bit of a disappointment, but I really tried my best to write a romantic scene.

Things had to happen quickly after finishing dinner. After they had come home from the concert, Yoohyeon had suggested to eat together and Siyeon thought it was a good idea to fill her stomach before confessing. When they ate, they got an excited message by Gahyeon telling them that Minji had accepted Bora’s proposal. Siyeon was incredibly happy for the two of them. After dinner, Siyeon excused herself to get ready. She brushed her teeth because she didn’t want any rests of dinner in her teeth during her confession. Then she changed her outfit, exchanging the blouse she had worn at the concert with one of her favorite shirts. It was already shortly before midnight.  
Luckily, Yoohyeon had retreated into her room, so Siyeon had time to set up in the living room. She put up fairy lights all around the living room. Bora had given her all they had had at home and they had even gone to buy more and the result was absolutely gorgeous. She set up the mic she had rented in front of her room. The few steps separating that space from the living room kind of made it seem like a stage, or at least that was the effect Siyeon was going for. She was just finished with setting up the tech, when Yoohyeon’s room door opened.  
“What are you doing?” Yoohyeon asked, looking around with a confused expression. She was already wearing her pajamas, holding a folded piece of paper in her hand.  
Things were happening too fast, she wasn’t ready yet. She thought she would have more time to mentally prepare for this moment. There was no other choice then to start now though, so she took Yoohyeon’s hand and pulled her down the stairs, pointing towards a spot on the couch with the perfect view on the improvised stage. “Just… listen, okay?”  
Yoohyeon nodded, seemingly completely overwhelmed. She stared at Siyeon with big, confused eyes.  
Siyeon took a deep breath and got into position. She started the instrumental track with her phone, grabbed the mic and started singing. “Gimme your, gimme your, gimme your attention, baby.” Even though she was nervous, she couldn’t stop smiling and looking right into Yoohyeon’s eyes.  
For the second chorus, she left the ‘stage’ and walked towards Yoohyeon, singing right in front of her. It was an intense experience to sing like that for someone else, it felt so intimate and personal.  
“What?” Yoohyeon whispered after Siyeon had finished.  
“I like you. I want to be with you. For real, “ Siyeon said, slightly out of breath, her palms hot and sweaty. She put the mic down on the living room table, expectantly waiting for Yoohyeon’s reaction.  
“That’s…” the other girl started. “That’s…”  
Oh gods, that didn’t sound good. Siyeon had fucked up. “Shit. This was too much, wasn’t it? I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done this… sorry for making you uncomfortable…” She turned away from her. “I’m sorry.”  
Yoohyeon grabbed Siyeon’s hand. “No.”  
“What?”  
“It’s just… I… read this.” Yoohyeon pushed the letter she had been holding since leaving her room into Siyeon’s hand.  
Siyeon frowned, but she took the letter and opened it slowly.

_Dear Siyeon!_

_close to you_

_when you’re lying meters away from me_   
_when you’re sitting right beside me_   
_when you’re holding my hand_   
_all I want is for it to be real_   
_let’s stop faking it, my love_   
_I want it to be real_   
_because I have fallen for you_

_I’m already so close to you_   
_but I wanna get closer_   
_all the things we already do_   
_let’s do them for real_   
_it’s not a lie anymore_   
_when I look into your eyes_   
_it feels like it can be real_   
_let’s get even closer_

_You have become so important to be over the past few weeks and I know I’m risking it all with this letter. But I can’t carry this around with me in secret anymore, I need to take a chance. I have completely fallen for you, Lee Siyeon. I would have never thought this would happen, but it did, and I am so thankful for it. Honestly, I really feel like the scam was fate, like we actually got lucky with it. This apartment feels more like my home after barely more than two months then my old house did and you’re the reason for it. You were there for me when that stuff with my parents went down. You could make me smile even during my darkest times. You have made me so happy over that short time and I have found myself being head over heels for you. I meant what I said in my poem – I want to do all the things we did for our fake relationship to be real. I want to go on actual dates with you because our fake dates were some of the best moments of my life. I want to actually take cute selfies with you. I want to walk around holding hands because we both want to, not because we are trying to show off our fake relationship. So, if you feel the same way … be my girlfriend. My real girlfriend._   
_And if you don’t feel the same way or if you want some time or feel uncomfortable with it… just write me a letter back and tell me what you think. I really hope I’m not destroying our friendship with this. Let’s not get awkward with each other now, okay? I don’t want to lose you._   
_I really, really like you. There’s nothing holding me back. Why don’t you be my girl?_   
_Love, Yoohyeon_   
_PS. You need to show me the poems you wrote about me in middle school. I even wrote you a poem now and I know that it’s bad but I tried my best._

Siyeon started crying while reading the letter. She couldn’t believe the words in front of her. Yoohyeon actually liked her back. It couldn’t be real. And she had written the most beautiful poem for her. Maybe Yoohyeon was right. Maybe that scam had been fate.

* * *

 

Yoohyeon thought she might die because her heart was beating way too fast. It wasn’t possible. Siyeon didn’t just confess her feelings to her in the absolutely most romantic way possible. She was too overwhelmed to communicate was she was feeling, so she just handed her the letter, studying Siyeon’s expression while she was reading it carefully. She started crying about half way through it and Yoohyeon had to fight urge to wipe away her tears.  
“You… like me too?” Siyeon said when she finally put the letter down.  
“I like you too, “ Yoohyeon confirmed. “Hell, I’m completely in love with you.”  
“You are?”  
“Yeah.”  
“So… girlfriends?” Siyeon asked.  
“Yes.” They both grinned at each other for a moment. Then Yoohyeon stood up and stepped closer to Siyeon. “Can… can I kiss you?”  
Siyeon put her arms around Yoohyeon’s neck slowly pulling her closer. “Yes, “ she said softly.  
When their lips met, Yoohyeon finally realized that this was really happening. Siyeon actually liked her back, they were actually dating and right now, she was kissing the most beautiful girl on the planet. This was not some sort of dream. She smiled into the kiss and she could feel Siyeon doing the same.  
“Your middle school self is probably pretty proud of you right now, “ Yoohyeon joked, pulling away a bit.  
Siyeon laughed. “She’d die of happiness. Not that it’s any different for high school me.”  
Yoohyeon smiled before pulling her in for a second kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is greatly appreciated, as always!


	27. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not sticking to my plan to post the epilogue later, but well, it's only short anyway. If you wanna see me being emotional af, you can find that in the end notes. Hope you enjoyed this fic!

“I will miss this place, “ Yoohyeon said. She was standing between numbers of packed up boxes, ready to be moved to her new home. “Remember our first day in here?”  
“I was so confused and upset on that day, “ Siyeon said. “You were just sitting there, unpacking your stuff… it was the biggest shock of my life.”  
“Same. I thought us living together would just be a temporary thing, a few weeks at most.”  
“And now we’ve been living together for two years and are moving, only to live together again.” Siyeon laughed.  “Who would’ve thought?”  
“Remind me why we are leaving again? This place holds so many memories. I don’t wanna leave it behind.” Yoohyeon thought about their endless movie nights on the couch. Listening to music and dancing around the room. Cooking and eating dinner together. Decorating the apartment. She thought about Siyeon’s confession right on the stairs. That one time they tried to make dessert for their first dinner with Minji and Bora and horribly failed. The day Siyeon comforted Yoohyeon after what had happened with her parents. Hours of practice for their first duet at the school concert and hours of practice for their duet at the school concert last year. She thought about that time she slipped down the stairs and had to be driven to a hospital. She thought about the time Siyeon had come home crying from work because she had been fired. She thought about the time Siyeon walked out of her room in her bridesmaid dress, the brightest smile on her face, looking like the most beautiful girl ever. She thought about the nights they had spent cuddled up in one of their small beds. She thought about the times they had put up all the fairy lights to just lie on the floor and talk about everything and nothing. She thought about all the good and bad memories they had made in these four walls that she would never forget about.  
“Come on, it’ll be fun living in the same house as Minji and Bora, “ Siyeon said. “Plus, the new place is bigger and it’s close to your work.”  
“I know, “ Yoohyeon sighed. She fell in love with the new apartment as soon as she had seen it. Bora had told them about the empty apartment in their building and Siyeon and Yoohyeon had only looked at it as a favor, not actually considering moving out. But it just had been perfect for them.  
“And it’s not like we won’t see this apartment ever again. We can visit Gahyeon and Handong whenever we want, “ Siyeon put her arms around Yoohyeon. “But I will miss living here too.”  
“I love Gahyeon and Handong… but it’ll be weird seeing someone else live here.” Yoohyeon turned her head toward Siyeon. “Sometimes I wonder if we would have ever gotten together if it wasn’t for this apartment.”  
“Well… We still would have been part of the vocal group, so maybe. Does it matter? I’m glad things happened the way they did.”  
“Me too.”  
“Ready to go?” Siyeon asked, jingling the keys to their new apartment in front of her face.  
Even though they had lived with each other all this time, moving into another place together felt special. It was their decision this time. It was the start of a new chapter of their relationship, marked not only by the apartment but also the ring in Yoohyeon’s pocket. And she was more than ready for that new chapter.  
Yoohyeon smiled. “Yeah, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SAY IT ALL THE TIME I KNOW but please give me feedback for this fic, I would appreciate it a lot! Tell me what scenes you enjoyed the most, what you would have wished for, everything that comes to your mind idk… If you don’t want to comment, you can also talk to me on my curious cat (orbitmyheart), my twitter (orbitmyheart) or my tumblr (bigblackholeinmyheart). If you enjoyed this fic, let’s be friends please.  
> This fic didn’t even take that long to write, but I feel like it’s been with me for a long time. Even though the story has no relation whatsoever to what is happening in my life, it still feels like this is one of the most personal things I have written if that makes sense? During the course of writing this story, I have come out to several of my close friends from school and I had to deal with my parents making homophobic comments and writing this story has really giving me strength and comfort. I’m really thankful to everyone who has supported and read this story, it means the world to me! But I especially wanna thank brainy_z for being the No. 1 fan of this fic, always promoting it, leaving a comment every week and just being the sweetest person and a great friend that I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for this fic. You gave me so much motivation and always hyped me up, so thank you so much! And big thanks to another great friend I wouldn’t have without this fic: Jisooschrist who has not only drawn absolutely gorgeous fanart for this but also has supported me so much with her comments and love! (Go check out her art and her fic please, it’s really worth it.) And special thanks to my siyoo anon on tumblr/cc...I appreciate you so much! I will miss you, your anons have always made me smile so much. AND, OFC, I ALSO HAVE TO THANK MY BEST FRIEND. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! You not only watched a whole GMC episode with me, you also had to listen to my hour long rants on GMC (continue watching it you coward) and you always support me no matter what. You’re the reason I am the writer (and person) I am today, so thank you, babe. Have I mentioned before that many lines about friendship (be it singji or 2hyeon) were inspired by you? I love you so much.  
> I ALSO WANNA THANK DREAMCATCHER FOR BEING THE LOVES OF MY LIFE AND MY MUSES FOR WRITING. And ofc I have to thank GMC too. It may be a shitty show with a kind of pretty toxic relationship and annoying af characters, but it still has a special place in my heart. If you haven’t watched it, you should do so, but be prepared for it being very different from this fic. It’s just really entertaining and amusing.  
> THANK YOU FOR READING, COMMENTING, LEAVING KUDOS… I LOVE YOU ALL AND APPRECIATE IT A LOT. Don’t know what will be next, but I also have an AU on twitter (@orbitmyheart) if you want more of my siyoo content.


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